


Conspiracy Theory

by Mireille, soft_princess



Series: Conspiracy Theory universe [1]
Category: Buffy the Vampire Slayer
Genre: Community: spring_with_xan, Community: summer_of_giles, M/M, Post-Canon
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2007-06-17
Updated: 2007-06-17
Packaged: 2019-03-16 10:23:01
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 12
Words: 62,972
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/13634361
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Mireille/pseuds/Mireille, https://archiveofourown.org/users/soft_princess/pseuds/soft_princess
Summary: When Xander is attacked by a demon on his way to deliver a trio of young Slayers to England, he and Giles find themselves investigating a plot that may threaten the Council's very existence--and re-evaluating their relationship in the process.





	1. Chapter 1

  
banner made by [katekat](http://archiveofourown.org/users/katekat/pseuds/katekat)

"Yeah, I really should have gone for the extra insurance," Xander muttered, wincing as he looked at the damage to the rental car. The Council had an account with the rental place; that probably meant their optional insurance covered "act of demon," and it also probably meant that Giles was going to kill him when he turned in his expense statement for the  _un_ insured repairs. He was probably going to accuse Xander of driving on the right-hand side of the road again.   
  
"If it comes back--" the girl at his side began, but Xander interrupted her.   
  
"It's not coming back, Niki."   
  
" _If it comes back_ ," she repeated firmly, "I'm ready." She folded her arms, giving him a very determined look, and Xander had to wonder whether there was some kind of special class where girls got taught how to glare in that particular way. And whether Niki was in the gifted class, because he was pretty sure that was super-advanced glaring for a ten-year-old.   
  
"You don't have to worry about it," Xander said, and then stopped himself. He was talking to a Slayer, after all, even if he wasn't used to Slayers coming in extra-extra-small. Worrying about demons was in the job description.   
  
Worrying about Slayers, on the other hand, was in  _his_  job description, these days. Xander looked toward the woods some distance away from the road. The other two Slayers he was bringing to the Council had taken off in pursuit of the demon, only stopping to get weapons out of the trunk of the car--and there was going to be a huge I-told-you-so from Catherine about having her weapons shipped to England ahead of them, just as soon as they came back. Xander was going to have to admit she was right, too; even though he hadn't wanted to take a detour to go and pick up the trunk that had gone ahead of them, right now, it looked like it had been a good idea.   
  
"I'm not worried," Niki said, and Xander knew enough about Slayers, even pint-sized ones, not to argue with her.   
  
"Well, I am," Xander said. "Getting you from the airport to the Council is supposed to be the easy part of the job." Most of the time, he didn't even do that part himself; he put the girls on an airplane, and Giles either met their flight or sent Andrew to do it.   
  
Most of the time, he didn't have a little kid on his hands, though, especially not one who'd just barely managed to save her parents when a local demon had decided it didn't want a Slayer in its territory. Xander had turned up the morning after she'd managed to fight it off, which had made his whole "demons are real, your kid's a vampire slayer," speech a little bit of an anticlimax, but had also made him feel like it would be a bad idea to put Niki on the plane by herself.   
  
And since he was going back to England anyway, when Giles had asked him if he'd fly out of Johannesburg so that he could take back two other girls that one of the few remaining actual  _real_  Watchers had been training, Xander had figured that he might as well. Their Watcher was too old to travel comfortably, and since the reason one of the girls was with him in the first place--the other had only been located a month or so ago--was that her parents worried about sending her away to school, Giles thought it was best if the Council had someone accompany her.   
  
It had sounded like a good plan to Xander. He could fly back to England, get Niki settled in at the Council's Slayer-school, spend a couple of days catching up with everybody--it'd be like a paid vacation.   
  
Everything had been going smoothly, too, right up until the point that a demon came out of nowhere and attacked their car. Even with three Slayers around, that wasn't ever going to be the high point of Xander's day.  
  
Although he'd be a lot happier if there  _were_  three Slayers around. He frowned, trying to decide if he saw movement in the distance or not. "Do you see Catherine and Ocean anywhere?"  
  
The girl shook her head. "Her name's Océane," she corrected him.   
  
"That's what I said," Xander said.   
  
"No, it isn't. And I think they're coming back," Niki said, pointing. "I don't see the demon, though."   
  
"Not seeing demons is a good thing," Xander mentioned.   
  
"Catherine says that her Watcher made her bring back part of the demons she killed so that she could look up what kind it was."  
  
"Catherine's Watcher is creepy," Xander said, then quickly added, "but you didn't hear that from me."   
  
Niki shook her head, already running to meet the other girls. "Where is it?"  
  
Catherine smiled at her, ruffling Niki's hair. "Gone." She certainly wasn't the talking type. In all the time Xander had known her, which was, to be fair, not quite a whole day yet, she hadn't said more than ten words or so. Only Niki seemed to be able to coax words out of her.  
  
" _Nous l'avons perdu à environ sept ou huit cent mètres d'ici_ ," Océane said, looking back the way they came and pointing to the left. She looked at Xander, but he simply looked confused, his gaze shifting from her to where she was pointing, to the other two girls, and back to her. "Oh, I forget you do not 'ear me," she said, smiling, then tried to find the words to translate what she'd just said. "We lost him, not too long from 'ere. This way."  
  
"Sorry my French's not that good, Ocean," Xander apologized for the seventh time that day. Niki was really laughing at him now, but he didn't care. It was better than letting her think about what had just happened and getting scared. "So he just disappeared?"  
  
Both girls nodded, Océane rolling her eyes at Xander's mispronunciation of her name, which sent Niki into another giggling fit. Xander shook his head and walked back to the car, not wanting to let the girls see how worried he was. Demons didn't usually make a habit of disappearing, especially not right after they'd tried to kill three Slayers. Or if they did disappear, it was only to gather more fellow demons and try again. "We should get going. I don't want us stranded in the middle of a road in the middle of nowhere with a demon on the loose."  
  
Niki hopped in the front seat, putting the seatbelt on and pointedly ignoring Xander's glare. "Do you think it'll start again? Or is it dead?"  
  
"It's going to start. It has to." Xander said, his eye fixed on Niki. "But not until you're settled in the back seat with your seatbelt on." Niki tugged on her seatbelt to show him it was on and turned to glare back at him. It was almost enough for Xander to let it go. Almost. "I said 'in the  _back_  seat' Niki, not 'in the passenger seat'. You know it's the law. You have to be twelve before you can ride shotgun."  
  
Niki pouted. "Not in Nigeria." Maybe not in England, either; Xander had no idea. He just knew he'd feel better if she was in the back seat.  
  
Xander had to stop himself from laughing at her; no matter how much she tried to look older than ten, especially around the older girls, right now she looked not a day over five. "We're not in Nigeria, Niki. Go ride in the back with Catherine, please." He touched her face gently, his other hand sneaking down to unbuckle the belt. Niki gave a frustrated cry, but didn't fight it as Catherine helped her out and Océane slid into the front seat. Once the girls were all finally settled, Xander turned the keys into the ignition and--  
  
Nothing.  
  
He tried again, biting his lower lips and trying to tune out the girls' sighs.   
  
Catherine shook her head in the back seat. "Motor's dead."  
  
"Or maybe it was 'is claw that stick in the--" Océane struggled for the right word before deciding on doing it the easy way and pointing at the dashboard.  
  
Xander nodded. "It might be." He looked at the dashboard, then at the twisted metal at the front of the car. It had been optimistic of him to think that the car  _would_  work, really, considering how much damage the demon had done to it.   
  
Right. So, assess the situation here. He had one totaled rental car, three Slayers, no cell phone, and no idea how he was going to get the girls to the Council. And that was the good part, the part that didn't involve there being a demon after them, or the fact that it was going to be getting dark soon.   
  
"So," Xander said, turning so that he could see the girls in the back seat as well as Océane, "how do you guys feel about a walk?" They were only a couple of miles out of the last town they'd gone through; even allowing for Niki's shorter legs slowing them down a little, it shouldn’t take that long to get back there. They'd find a pay phone, he'd call Giles, the Council would send somebody to pick them up.   
  
He'd say it'd be simple, except that the last thing they needed was for him to jinx this trip any more than it already had been.   
  
"We need to push the car off to the side of the road first," he said. "Ocean? Anybody ever teach you how to drive?"   
  
She looked at him blankly for a moment. Sighing, Xander tried again, accompanying his words with pantomime that had Niki collapsing against Catherine's shoulder, giggling helplessly. "Do you know how to drive?"   
  
Océane grinned brightly, nodding. "I am learning," she said carefully.   
  
Okay. If a police car stopped and had a problem with him letting a fifteen-year-old girl steer the dead hulk of their rental car, he'd just play stupid American and hope for the best--which really meant "and let Giles straighten it out later." Or maybe Andrew, who'd probably be a lot less annoyed.   
  
"Great," he said. "Time for a lesson." Xander got out of the car, making sure that both Catherine and Niki got out and were standing safely out of the way--okay, the car wasn't going to take off unexpectedly, but he wasn't going to take any chances, either--before he got Océane settled in the driver's seat. "When we push, steer the car over there," he said, pointing to the side of the road.   
  
Océane nodded, and he decided he'd trust her; she'd been pretty good so far at telling him when she didn't understand what he was saying.   
  
Xander helped her put the car in neutral before turning to the other two girls. "Okay, Catherine, I'm going to need you to help me push. Niki, stand back."   
  
Niki's hands went onto her hips, and she shook her head. "I'm stronger than you are," she said.   
  
"I'm not arguing that, Nik, it's just--" He sighed. "Fine. Help us push."   
  
With two Slayers helping him, it was easy to get the car out of the road; it was only a few minutes later that Océane was handing him the keys, still grinning about her stint behind the steering wheel.   
  
"We'll stop back for your stuff later," Xander said. "We don't need to carry any of it."   
  
"Weapons," Catherine suggested. She and Océane still had the weapons they'd grabbed to go after the demon, but Xander opened the trunk again so that Catherine could hand out stakes--not a bad idea, since the sun might be down before they got anywhere, Xander had to admit--and stash a few more in a backpack she slung over her shoulder.   
  
Niki had raided Catherine's weapons chest as well; Xander reached over and took the battle-axe out of her hands, ignoring the kicked-puppy pout she turned on him. "You must be  _this_  tall to carry the axe," he said, holding his hand out at about shoulder height. "Besides, I don't want to knock on somebody's door looking like we're a traveling gang of serial killers."   
  
Niki scowled until Catherine nodded and put her own broadsword back in the trunk; then she reluctantly stepped back and let Xander put the axe away as well, though she did tuck an extra stake into her belt. Xander wondered if the other girls had been teaching her about staking vampires; he'd planned to take Niki out on patrol a couple of times before they came back to England, but he hadn't had time.   
  
"Ready?" he asked. The two older girls nodded and immediately started walking; Xander let them get a short distance ahead without saying anything. He hadn't wanted to hang out around adults when he was their age, either, and as long as they stayed where he could see them, he wasn't going to worry.   
  
He'd expected Niki to run ahead to catch up with them; since half of what she'd said to him since they'd arrived in Johannesburg had started with "Catherine says," or "Catherine's Watcher says," he figured she'd want to hang out with the big kids some more. Instead, though, he felt a small hand slipping into his.   
  
"I told them I would protect you," she said solemnly.   
  
Poor kid, Xander thought. Thousands of miles from home, two demon attacks in just about a week, and now she thought it was  _her_  job to look after  _him_. He squeezed her hand. "You bet," he said, and they started walking.  
  


***

  
  
"Explain this to me again, Xander, because I'm not quite sure I understand how it happened," Giles was saying, as they both sat in his office of the council. The girls were off to the dorms, where they would be shown to their beds, and would be allowed to unpack.   
  
With a sigh, Xander ran over the story again. "It's not so hard to believe, Giles," he said after he'd finished explaining the attack for what seemed like the hundredth time, but was probably only the third or fourth. First there'd been the Watcher who had picked them up after they'd finally found a phone; then Andrew when Xander, Catherine, Océane and Niki had first arrived; then Giles a first time--so yeah, fourth time. "We were about an hour outside London when we were attacked. Three Slayers in one small rental car--and have I mentioned how sorry I am for not taking that extra insurance? What was I saying? Oh, yeah. Three Slayers, one small rental car, deserted roads. You know the drill--"   
  
"I quite agree that it was a dangerous situation, Xander, but this still doesn't explain what demon would be foolish enough to attack three Slayers at once."   
  
"I don't know what kind of demon it was. I didn't even get a good look at it--I probably wouldn't be able to identify it if you had a picture." Exasperated, Xander stood and started pacing.  
  
"And that is exactly where the problem lies, Xander. You, better than anyone, should know how important it is to be able to identify the demons who attacked the Slayers--"   
  
Xander glared at Giles angrily. "I might be an idiot, Giles, but not that much! Try getting a good look at the demon who's trying to kill the three kids you're supposed to be taking care of! The only thing I could think of was getting the hell out of that car before the demon pulverized it and us with it! And by the time I finally managed to get myself and Niki out, Catherine and Ocean had already taken off after it." He slumped into the chair, drained. "I'm tired. The girls are tired. We're safe here, so can we talk about it tomorrow morning?"   
  
Giles leaned against his desk, arms crossed over his chest. "If the Slayers' safety is threatened, you know it is my responsibility to find out by whom, and when they are most likely to strike again. I'm sorry, but this can't be delayed. Perhaps coffee would do you some good."   
  
Xander groaned. "I've been awake for just about two days straight, Giles. I'm not at my best, and right now, I have nothing to add that could help. Maybe I'll recover the part of my brain that isn't so dead after I've had some sleep. Catherine and Ocean'll also be able to help after they've slept. I don't think it's going to come back tonight, and if I've just jinxed it," Xander sighed and rubbed his temples tiredly, "well, just kill me in the morning."  
  
Giles shook his head, looking concerned. "I'm sorry -- of course you're tired under the circumstances. Get some sleep, and we can talk about it in more detail in the morning. If you're not worried about this demon's attack being a sign of a larger problem, I'm sure I shouldn't be, either."  
  
"Oh, I'm worried, don't think I'm not. But there are at least sixty Slayers living here. If a demon tries to get in, it'll get killed about sixty times, so I think we're safe until morning." He sat up on his chair and looked straight at Giles, murmuring, "I’d also been expecting a better welcome home than this, but I guess you get what you deserve, right?"  
  
"I'll issue an order to keep the girls inside until we've figured out what this demon is and what he it wants," Giles was saying, as if he hadn’t heard what Xander had added. "Go to bed, Xander, I'll see you in the morning. Oh, and while you're in England, perhaps you should attend some of the girls' French classes."   
  
Xander groaned, rolling his eye as he stood. "You wish." With a tired smile, he opened the door and was about to step out when Giles grabbed his arm. Xander turned back to Giles and found himself on the receiving end of the rarity that was a Giles-hug. Their embrace lasted for a few seconds before Giles let go, straightening up. "I apologize," he said.  
  
Xander nodded once, smiling tightly. "I guess we’re both just worried. I’ll see you in the morning." He headed down the corridor. "I’ll think about those French lessons," he called back without even turning around.   
  
For all his insistence that he needed sleep--and he did; his eye felt like it had a bucket of sand in them--he didn't go straight to his room; he walked across the courtyard toward the dorms. This had been the Watchers' training school until the First Evil had wiped out most of the Council; now only the youngest Watcher trainees were studying along with the Slayers. The older students had been put to work; the new Council was short-handed, and the few old Watchers Giles had convinced to come back from retirement weren't enough.   
  
The larger dorm had been assigned to the girls--the Slayers and a couple of girls studying to be Watchers--and Xander took the steps two at a time, grinning as the old Watcher who was in charge of the dorm came out of her room to see who was coming in at that hour.   
  
"I thought I told you that if I caught you trying to sneak in here again--" She broke off, realizing it wasn't who she'd expected. "Oh, it's you, Harris. I should have realized you'd be stopping by, after hearing your name every five minutes from Miss Achebe."   
  
"Isn't Niki a little young to be 'Miss' anybody?" Xander asked. Not that he expected to convince Mrs. Cheever--he didn't even know her first name, not that they were on that friendly of terms anyway--that she could lighten up a little with the Slayers. Most of the old Watchers didn't have a lot to do with anybody from Sunnydale, and Andrew had told him the last time he was here that they weren't all that crazy about the Slayers and Watchers training together, either.   
  
Mrs. Cheever ignored what he'd said. "Can I help you with something?" At least she wasn't actually hostile, just not overly friendly, and for all Xander knew, that was what she was like with everyone.   
  
"I just wanted to make sure the girls were okay," he said. "We had a long trip, and then--did they tell you about the demon?"   
  
"I heard," she said. "Miss Achebe and the others are--or should be--asleep by now; it's over an hour past lights-out, and they won't be put on the patrol schedule until they've settled in."   
  
Xander didn't want to disrupt things too much. Well, that wasn't true; he  _did_ , but he knew he shouldn't. Besides, he'd had to wake Catherine up when their flight landed at Heathrow, and she didn't exactly wake up friendly. He could always come by and see them in the morning. "All right," he said. "But if... look, Niki's only ten, and she's still a little freaked out by everything. If she's  _not_  okay, I want to know about it, all right?"  
  
"She'll be fine," Mrs. Cheever said firmly, but Xander thought that she might have given him a very fleeting smile. "I'll tell the girls tomorrow that you came by to check on them," she added.   
  
Xander nodded, turning and letting himself back outside. As he came down the front steps, he froze; there was someone, or something, lurking in the shadow cast by one of the trees in the courtyard. He backed up a little, sliding his foot back to find the step; there'd be weapons inside. There was no way that in a dorm filled with Slayers, there wouldn’t be weapons.   
  
Then the shadowy figure moved, and Xander realized it was human: a boy, maybe sixteen or seventeen, the moonlight glinting off his glasses. He grinned; this was obviously who Mrs. Cheever had thought had been trying to sneak into the dorm at night. "What do you think you're doing?" Xander called out, as though he needed an answer. It hadn't been that long since he'd been that age, even if sometimes it felt like a hundred years ago.   
  
The boy didn't answer, just took off running back toward the slightly smaller building that housed the male students, and Xander gave a satisfied grin. Really, he had to expect to get caught, with those definitely inferior lurking skills.   
  
Xander started back across the courtyard to what used to be the headmaster's house. Now Giles lived there most of the time--the Council headquarters were still officially in London, but Xander couldn't blame him for not using those offices a lot; they were small and crowded, in a building that held a lot of other office suites, and while Giles kept saying that the Council needed a proper headquarters again, right now there weren't enough people to justify an actual building, anyway.   
  
So Giles stayed here a lot of the time, and had turned most of the big old house into secondary headquarters. Xander and everyone else from Sunnydale had just sort of taken over the other bedrooms as theirs when they were in England. Andrew actually had his own apartment on campus, like some of the younger teachers-- which Xander suspected was partly Giles' idea--but the rest of them weren't around often enough to get on Giles' nerves.   
  
At least, not usually. Until they found out what had attacked him and the girls earlier today, Xander wasn't planning on go anywhere. He'd promised Niki's parents that she'd be safe with the Council, and the first thing that happened after he got her to England was that a demon had come after her.   
  
After all of them, yeah, but this was twice in not-very-long for Niki, and it wasn't like she'd been out making enemies in the demon world; she hadn't even realized that there was anything all that weird about her before she'd had to fight off a demon in her mom's kitchen. Xander was going to stick around until he was sure that she was going to be okay here.   
  
Giles had left the front door unlocked for him, even though Xander had heard from Andrew that having some of the not-quite-old-enough Slayers sneak in and raid his liquor cabinet had finally gotten him in the habit of locking up at night. Xander let himself in, trying to walk quietly. The floorboards in the old house creaked, and he didn't want to wake Giles up if he'd gone to bed. Running the Council probably didn't leave him a lot of time to sleep. After all,  _working for_  the Council didn't give Xander much time to sleep.   
  
As he made his way upstairs and tried to get down the darkened hallway without running into anything, Xander reassured himself that that particular demon probably wouldn't come back. It had probably attacked them without knowing that the car was full of Slayers, and that was why it had disappeared when Catherine and Océane had chased it. Still, that didn't mean that the girls weren't freaked out by it, and it wouldn't hurt anything for Xander to stay in England for a while until everything got back to normal.   
  
Besides, it'd be good to see people again. Maybe, if he was going to be here for a week or two, he could even convince Buffy and Dawn to come to England for a visit.   
  
Nothing to worry about, he told himself again as he opened the door to his room. With all the traveling around Africa he did, this felt as much like "home" as anyplace did, even if he only spent a few days here every couple of months. He didn't spend that much more time in the room he rented in Windhoek, after all.   
  
Somebody had made sure that Xander's bag had been brought in. Xander sat down on the bed, meaning to open it up and get out his shaving kit and something clean to sleep in, but he decided to lie down and close his eye for a minute first.   
  
Just a minute or two, he promised himself. He wasn't actually going to go to sleep.   
  


***

  
  
The morning dawned bright and early, and Giles was up even before his alarm clock rang. He showered quickly, conscious that the noise of the running water might wake up his guest. The pipes were old, which didn't help the racket at all. Despite his worries and the many questions that he still needed answers to, Giles knew that Xander needed all the sleep he could get.   
  
Giles called the dorms just before going downstairs, to ask that the three new girls be sent to his house as soon as they were finished with breakfast. He liked to meet the new Slayers, to put faces to the names he knew he would hear for a long time to come. It gave him a chance to interact with them on a more personal level as well, something that seldom happened anymore. And to be completely honest, he was as curious to meet all of them as they usually were to meet him, and today Giles was definitely looking forward to meeting Niki.   
  
It wasn't rare that Slayers would show their powers from their early teens or even before, but ten was the youngest Giles had ever personally encountered. Giles knew this meant that Niki would need particular attention. He wasn't sure exactly what changes would need to be made, but it was certain that some things would have to be adjusted.  
  
He cooked himself a quick breakfast as he thought about everything he needed to do for the three new arrivals. Eggs and toast ready, he prepared tea and sat at the table to eat while it brewed. Giles had half hoped the smell of food would wake Xander, but there was still no sound coming from upstairs.   
  
When he finished eating, Giles put the dishes into the sink and poured himself some tea. He took his cup and moved to the front door, unlocking it, then picking up the morning newspaper. He went into the library and sat in his favorite chair by the window. He was halfway through his tea when the doorbell rang, startling him. No one rang the doorbell, not even the other Watchers. They all thought of this house as an extension of Giles' office and treated it as such, which, to be fair, he'd encouraged; that was why he'd made certain he could close off the more private areas of the house when necessary. They only knocked once on the door before coming in.   
  
Giles stood and went to open the door, wincing when the bell rang again just as he put his hand on the handle. "Hello, young ladies," he said, opening the door to find the three girls standing on the other side. He let them in, turning to the smallest one.   
  
"You must be Nkiruka," he said, extending his hand.  
  
She took it and shook it forcefully. "Nkiruka Achebe, sir," she replied with a bright smile. "You can call me Niki, though. Xander says my name is too hard to say. And you're Giles."   
  
"It's  _Mr._  Giles, Niki!" the tall gangly girl behind her whispered harshly.  
  
"But Xander calls him just Giles! Why can't I?"  
  
"I'm afraid Mr. Harris got into a rather bad habit when he was younger, Niki, and I'd rather you didn't. I'm afraid all the other Slayers will follow your example if you do." Giles smiled at her.   
  
" _Xander_." She emphasized the name, her tone leaving no doubt that she would continue to call him that no matter what Giles said. "Xander talks about you all the time." She inched closer to Giles, watching him intently.   
  
"Really?" he asked, suppressing a smile.   
  
She nodded, quite seriously. "All the time," she repeated. "More than Catherine talks about her Watcher, even."   
  
Amused, Giles turned to the other two girls, extending his hand to one of them, trying to figure out which one it was. "Océane?" he asked, and she nodded. " _C'est un plaisir de vous rencontrer._ "   
  
She beamed at him, obviously happy to hear someone speak her language so far from home. " _De même_ , Mr. Giles."   
  
He turned to the tall girl standing right behind Niki. "Catherine, your Watcher has nothing but praise for you," he said with a smile, shaking her hand in turn.   
  
She gave him a small smile and nod. "Mr. Giles."  
  
Ah, yes, the girl of very few words. "Let's go into the study. We have rather a lot we need to discuss, not the least of which is that demon you met on your way here yesterday."  
  
The girls followed him into the study--or rather, Catherine and Océane followed him, while Niki skipped on ahead, peeking in doorways until she found the right one. Giles wondered if any of them were really prepared to deal with the boundless energy of an average ten-year-old, let alone a ten-year-old Slayer.   
  
"Please, sit down," Giles said once they were all inside the room. Niki immediately took over an armchair by the window, while the other two girls sat down on the sofa, watching him apprehensively. Giles sat on the edge of his desk, smiling at them. "I don't know what you've been told to expect from your time here," he began. Océane's Watcher had reported that she understood more English than she spoke, but Giles kept an eye on her, prepared to repeat his words in French if she started to look confused.   
  
"We're going to kill monsters," Niki said. "Xander already told me."   
  
Catherine shook her head, frowning slightly. "Listen," she told the younger girl, who scowled but subsided, settling back in her chair.   
  
"Niki's right, at least in part," Giles said. "That will be part of what you do here. Part of your day, however, will be spent in school, just as I assume it was back home." He spent a few minutes outlining what their schedules would look like; academically, the Council Academy--the new name had come when they'd started educating Slayers as well as future Watchers--was a normal school, although the history and language lessons incorporated a few things not found in the National Curriculum. The differences came after lessons were over for the day; instead of games and sports, the girls would focus on the physical training they needed to build their fighting skills.   
  
The girls asked a few questions, which reassured Giles somewhat. Océane and Catherine's Watcher had been part of the old Council; he'd come out of retirement, at least partly, after Giles had taken over the Council. Giles had been worried that the girls would have had strict obedience to the Council drilled into them, but while they were both a bit more reserved than Niki, he suspected that was primarily due to the difference in their ages.   
  
After fifteen minutes or so, they were out of questions, and he had a page full of notes to himself, things he'd have to deal with today: finding a tutor who could improve Océane's English while keeping her from falling behind in her studies, arranging to have the girls' school records sent, arranging tests and assessments of everything from their skill at arithmetic to the way they handled a broadsword.   
  
Niki had started to fidget, and Giles thought he had better get to the other reason he'd wanted to talk to the girls. "Now that we have all that settled," he said, "I'd like to ask you a few questions about what happened last night."   
  
The girls all seemed to sit up a little straighter; obviously, they all found the demon attack more interesting than their education. To be honest, Giles found it... more immediately significant, at least. From what Xander had said, the demon had attacked them without provocation, which generally suggested one of the less-intelligent species; the fact that it had attacked a group containing three Slayers seemed to confirm that. But it had run away when the older girls had gone after it, which  _wasn't_  what Giles would have expected from that sort of demon.   
  
On top of that, one of the girls had been attacked twice in a little over a week. Giles might have been able to dismiss that as coincidence, if it hadn't been for the stack of reports on his desk that said otherwise. Slayers were, of course, always targets for demon attacks, but the frequency of attacks was increasing. These Slayers weren't on patrol, either--most of them had been attacked en route from their homes to the academy.   
  
Giles was starting to think that something, or someone, was trying to eliminate as many Slayers as possible, and targeting the less-trained ones as easier prey. So far, they hadn't been successful--there had been a few minor injuries, but no more--and Giles intended to find out what was going on and put a stop to it before the Council's luck ran out.  
  


***


	2. Chapter 2

"Good morning," Xander said as he walked down the stairs just as Giles was picking up his briefcase. "You should have woken me up."

Giles gave him a small smile. "You needed your rest." He grabbed his keys and made his way to the door, turning back again just before he opened it. "Oh, just a couple of things. I’ve met the girls this morning. They’ll be meeting the other Slayers this afternoon for training, but they're free until then. So if you want to see them, they should be either at the dorms, or in the gardens, I suppose. And I'm sorry, but I'm afraid I have to go now. Gregory arrived this morning with two more Slayers, and I need to debrief him before he heads to Thailand."

Xander blinked. Giles was talking way too fast for this early in the day. "Gregory’s leaving already?" Alan Gregory was one of the younger Watchers. The guy had more energy than an Energizer battery. He had found ten Slayers in the past five months, which was the current record. And he never took time off. "How were the girls?"

"The girls were fine, as far as I could tell. Nkiruka was quite disappointed when I told her that she couldn’t go upstairs to wake you up." Giles grinned.

"That sounds like her, all right." Xander headed into the kitchen.

"And yes, Gregory is leaving in the late afternoon. He’s heard about a couple of incidents in the Bangkok area that he feels he should look into as soon as possible." Giles shrugged, following Xander into the kitchen with his briefcase and keys in hand. "Who am I to stop him? I know he hasn’t taken a day off since last Christmas, but if he’s willing to put in the hours--"

"I think he just wants to be ‘the Watcher who found them all’ or something." Xander grabbed the milk and poured himself a glass, his other hand rubbing his tired eye.

Giles laughed. "Well, yes, it does seem like it. At any rate, he’s waiting for me, so I’d best get going. Perhaps you could check in on Gregory’s charges as well when you’re at the dormitory, since he’ll be rushed and most probably won’t be seeing them before he leaves."

With a nod, Xander grabbed two slices of bread and put them into the toaster. "Sure, I can do that. Do you know their names?"

"I’m afraid I can’t remember them--the files are on my desk, though. One’s from Indonesia, the other from Bangladesh, I believe."

"So it’s a fair thing to say that I wouldn’t be able to pronounce their names even if you did know them," Xander said, grabbing the jam from the cupboard.

"Exactly. I’ll see you when I get back."

"Okay."

Giles left and Xander smiled. It was good to be home. Traveling was nice, and Xander liked it, but what he liked the most was coming back here to recharge his batteries before he left again. He didn’t even know when he was leaving this time, and he didn’t care. He’d stay at least long enough to help Niki get settled, and make sure she was going to be okay. However long that would take.

***

After he’d eaten and checked in on Gregory’s charges--who were both still sleeping off their jet-lag--Xander took a walk through the gardens. Catherine, Océane and Niki hadn’t been at the dorms, and Mrs. Cheever hadn’t known where they’d gone after they had come back from Giles’. She’d given them the usual lecture about the ground rules and where they were and weren't allowed to go, and Xander knew they wouldn’t have gone far. Not with Niki in tow.

He found them by the pond, laughing. That was never a good sign. "What are you laughing at?" he asked, as he sat down on a rock, close to Niki.

"Océane said something--"

The girl in question scoffed. "They are laughing at my accent--again." She didn’t seem to mind, though; her face was lightened up by a smile.

"Ah, okay, I thought you were laughing at me."

Niki laughed. "Oh, we were, but that was before you showed up."

"Of course," Catherine added, giggling. She had her shoes off, and both feet in the pond. It wasn’t allowed, but Xander thought it was a dumb rule anyway, so he didn’t call her on it.

"How did it go with Giles?" Xander asked, choosing to ignore them.

"Mr. Giles was fine," Catherine said. "Just asked us about the demon." 

"And about classes!" Niki was obviously excited. "And we’re going training later. With a lot of other Slayers. That’s going to be fun. We met some of them this morning, but not _all_ of them."

"Well, there are sixty of you around here--no, actually, sixty-two since this morning. I guess it’d be hard to meet them all at the same time," Xander said, turning to Océane. "I’ll check with Giles about your tutor, did he say anything about it?"

"Yes, it is a Watcher from the _académie_ who will come help me." She struggled for her words, and Xander had to take a moment to decipher her accent.

"Okay, Giles did say he was taking care of it--"

"You know," Niki said, sitting on the ground closer to Xander. "Mr. Giles wants me to call you Mr. Harris. You wouldn’t like that, would you? It’d be weird."

Xander laughed. "Giles just likes everyone to be formal. You should call me Mr. Harris when you’re talking to Mrs. Cheever and the other Watchers and teachers, but you don’t have to do the same when it’s just you and me. And them." He nodded at Catherine and Océane, smiling. "I’m not a formal kinda guy."

Niki gave him a bright smile. "Okay--"

The ring of Xander’s cell phone interrupted her, and Xander smiled apologetically, taking the phone from his pocket and flipping it open. "Xander Harris." He hardly ever remembered to carry the phone--he'd left it behind last time he was here, since it wasn't much use to him most of the time--but considering how much easier things would have been last night if he'd had it, he was planning to try, at least, to do better at keeping it with him. 

"I know I’ve told you not to hurry," Giles said at the other end of the line. "But the debriefing didn’t go as planned. Gregory was also attacked this morning. The car wasn't totaled as yours was, but the circumstances seem to be essentially the same."

"I’m on my way there," Xander said, standing and flipping off the phone. "I have to go to the office. You girls stay out of trouble, and Catherine, if you hear someone coming, take your feet out of the pond."

Catherine pulled her feet out of the water immediately. "I didn't know I wasn't supposed to," she said. 

"It's okay," Xander assured her. "It's a stupid rule--not that you heard me say so." He started back across the school grounds, though he looked back over his shoulder once to see that Catherine was once again dangling her feet in the pond, though she was looking around now to be sure she didn't get caught. 

Good for her, he thought. She needed to lighten up a little; she was probably a serious kid anyway, but her Watcher was pretty old-fashioned--not as bad as the creeps who'd come to Sunnydale when they'd needed help with Glory, but still not big on fun. She should have come here months ago, of course, but it had taken a while for her parents to agree. At least now maybe she'd get to have a little fun along with the Slaying. 

And none of it was his problem, technically, since he wasn't even really _Niki's_ Watcher, let alone Catherine's, but it was better than thinking about the attack on Gregory. It couldn’t have been too bad, he thought, because all Giles had mentioned was that the car wasn't totaled. If anybody had been hurt, that would have been the first thing Giles told him. 

He couldn't help being a little glad this had happened. Not that he wanted anything to happen to Gregory--the guy was too intense for Xander, but he was all right--but he'd had this worry in the back of his mind that the attack last night had had something to do with Niki. He didn't know exactly how a ten-year-old Slayer could make that determined of an enemy, but she'd been the target of a demon attack twice in a very short time. He'd been considering how crazy Giles would think he was if he'd started going through what was left of the Council library looking for prophecies that might be talking about Niki. 

But if Gregory was attacked while Niki was safely eating her cornflakes this morning, that meant that this wasn't about her. Xander didn’t mind sounding a little callous about Gregory under the circumstances. He wouldn't say any of that out loud, of course, but even if he did--well, Giles had known him long enough to know what he meant. 

Giles wasn't alone in his office, though, and Xander wondered why he'd even thought he would be. The surprising thing ought to have been that every single Watcher and Slayer in the area hadn't been called together to talk about this. There was just Gregory--a bruise on his forehead the only sign that anything had happened to him--and a young woman about Dawn's age whom Xander recognized as one of the older Slayers.

"Harris," Gregory said, giving him a nod that would probably have seemed friendly coming from anyone else. It was probably supposed to be friendly coming from Gregory, to be honest; he'd always been perfectly... Well, that was it. Gregory was perfectly _everything_ , and it made him hard to like. 

"Hey," Xander replied, finally. Then, because Gregory always had been a perfectly decent guy as far as Xander knew, he added, "You okay?"

"Yes, thank you. A bit bruised, but nothing serious, and Miss Harcourt is only shaken. I'm afraid the car fared worse than either of us did."

Xander smiled. "Don't worry; he won't yell much," he said, nodding toward Giles. "I totaled a rental car last night, so whatever you did is going to seem like nothing."

The smile Gregory gave him in return was pretty obviously saying, "I can tell you're making a joke, so I’m going to be polite and pretend I get it," so Xander just sat down. 

"Gregory was giving Julia a lift back here," Giles began. "She'd gone home for a few days, and--"

"I went home to see my sister's new baby," Julia volunteered, grinning although her face was still a little pale. 

Giles smiled briefly at her before continuing. "--and as it was on his way, I asked him to bring her back here."

"We'd barely got started when we were attacked," Gregory said. "Miss Harcourt was able to drive it away; it fled rather than engaging her in combat." 

"Yeah, that's what happened to us, too," Xander said. "Which is kind of weird. I mean, it has the nerve to attack a Slayer or three, but then runs away instead of fighting?" 

"Mr. Giles and I agree."

Xander glanced over at Giles, who nodded. 

"Julia had the presence of mind to sketch the demon as well as she could remember," Giles said. 

"I never go anywhere without my sketchbook," she said, flipping open a notebook. Xander saw brief flashes of pencil-sketched cartoons before she found the right page and handed it over to him. 

Xander hadn't gotten the best look at the demon that had attacked them the night before, but as far as he could tell, the creature she'd drawn matched the one that had suddenly landed on his windshield. "Yeah, that's him," he said. "Or her. Or whatever." 

"Good," Giles said. "At least that means we're only dealing with one demon--or one race of demons." He smiled at Julia. "Thank you. That sketch may be very helpful." While she was still beaming with pride, he added, "And now, after the morning you've had, I'm sure you'd like to get settled back into your dormitory."

She got to her feet and reaching over to take the notebook from Xander. 

"May we keep the sketch?" Giles asked, and Julia nodded, tearing the sheet out and handing it to him. "Thank you," he said again.

"You're welcome, sir," she said, sticking the notebook in her bag and leaving the room. 

Giles waited until she was gone before saying anything else. "I'd like Nkiruka to take a look at this sketch sometime this afternoon," he said. "I'm curious as to whether that's the same sort of demon that attacked her family before you found her."

And by "curious," Giles obviously meant, "worried," at least if his expression was anything to go by. "And if it is?"

Giles sighed. "You had no trouble when you were on your own in Africa. Gregory had no problems before he picked Julia up at her parents' house, but she hadn't been in the car for a quarter of an hour before they were attacked. If this is the same demon that attacked the Achebe house--"

With a sick feeling in his stomach, Xander finished his sentence for him. "Then something's targeting our Slayers."

Giles’ expression turned grim as he nodded, taking off his glasses and rubbing the corners of his eyes. “I’ll warn all the Watchers in the field and have Andrew give me a list of all those who are due back here in the next few days. Perhaps have them delay their flights until we’ve come to the bottom of this.”

“I agree that perhaps we shouldn’t be moving the Slayers at the moment, but I would prefer not to delay my flight to Thailand,” Gregory said, legs crossed and running a hand through his--perfectly groomed--hair.

“No, of course not,” Giles replied. “The situation in Thailand does need to be addressed. I don’t believe you’ll be in any danger if you don't have a Slayer with you.”

“Now that that’s settled, next thing we need to figure out is what kind of demon this thing is,” Xander said, taking the sketch from Giles’ hand and waving it in the air.

“Of course. We’ll have it photocopied and sent to the research department in London immediately.”

Xander smiled at Giles. “I was thinking about faxing it off to Dawn. She’s faster than the whole research department put together.” Xander frequently turned to her now when he had things to research that he couldn’t find on his own.

“Yes,” Giles grinned. “She’s told me that you have a habit of asking her first." 

“Don’t worry. I don’t ask her more than one question a week. And you know she loves it.” That was the reason Xander asked her instead of the research department; he even made up questions just to make her happy, when things got slow and he had no real research to do.

“Perhaps you’re right,” Giles said, nodding thoughtfully.

Gregory’s chair moved, the sound loud in the room. “I’ll let you both discuss the issue of research on your own. I have a plane to catch and a need to pack.”

“I thought you never unpacked?" Xander quipped. "What with all the traveling you do, it must be easier to just leave everything in your suitcases.”

Gregory didn’t even dignify that with an answer, not that Xander expected him to. The man might be perfectly everything, but one thing he _didn’t_ have was a good sense of humor. Or at least, Xander’s jokes were always lost to him. He gave Xander his ‘you-know-I’m-just-humoring-you’ smile, and shook Giles’ hand. “Mr. Giles, I’ll write up my report on this morning's events during my flight and send it to you as soon as I land.”

“Good day, Gregory.”

“Same to you.” He turned to Xander, bowing his head. “Harris.”

“Gregory. Have a safe trip.”

When Gregory was gone, the door closed behind him, Xander turned to Giles with a puzzled look. “You know, something weird just occurred to me. Gregory said, and you said, that there was only Julia with him in that car this morning. What about those two other Slayers he brought back from--Bangladesh and Indonesia, wasn’t it?”

“He dropped them off earlier, went home, and picked up Julia on the way back here, why?”

“And he didn’t get attacked when he was with them?”

Giles blinked, obviously trying to see where Xander was going with this. “I’m not sure I see your point.”

“Okay,” Xander said, leaning forward on his chair, his elbows resting on his knees. “So, I get attacked in the early evening, while I’m carrying three slayers. He was attacked in the early morning, with just one Slayer. But he doesn’t get attacked in the middle of the night, with two?”

“Actually, it was very early morning, not the middle of the night.”

“So, that makes it what? Just a couple of hours in between him dropping off the two new girls, and picking up Julia? Doesn’t that sound weird to you?”

“Yes, it does seem odd--“

“I’d be curious to see if we got a reaction from the Slayers if we showed them this sketch.”

“You don’t truly believe Gregory would be hiding something, do you?” Giles asked, frowning as he leaned against the desk, facing Xander.

Xander shrugged. “I don’t know. I know Gregory's supposed to be perfect, but he might have one flaw: pride. He might think that to admit to two attacks in less than two hours would be bad for his reputation. I just think it’s weird that he didn’t get attacked then. There’s a pattern here, and that doesn’t fit it. And if it doesn’t fit, then that means we might have gotten it wrong.”

Giles crossed his arms, still frowning, his glasses back on his nose. “Perhaps the demon was asleep? It was still dark when Gregory arrived.”

“And demons sleep at night since when?” 

“Some demonic species are just like humans and operate during the day, Xander, you know that. But, still, you might have a point. Let me get Andrew to fax these to both the research department and Dawn.”

Xander smiled a tired smile, and leaned back against his chair. “Admit it, you just want to know who’s fastest.”

“I simply want to give us the best possible chance of success,” Giles tried to argue, but under Xander’s stare he relented. “Oh, all right, I admit I’m rather curious. And if Dawn is as effective as you say--“

“She is, trust me, and she loves helping us out. It makes her feel important.” She’d told Xander once that she felt like they’d all forgotten how much help she had been with the First, like she hadn’t even been there. That had been what had prompted Xander to seek her help for research in the first place.

“Well, then, perhaps it’s time I offer to pay her a salary for her efforts.”

“Beats the allowance Buffy gives her every week. Oh, and you could make it clear she’s got a job as soon as she graduates; you’ll get a really cool Christmas present out of it.”

“And that would be?”

“I don’t know, but she’ll figure something out. She always does.”

Giles laughed quietly, a hand before his mouth to stifle the sound. “I’ll do that, then. Do you think she’d like to attend the Academy after she finishes school?” Giles said it almost wistfully. It made Xander grin.

“Ask her. I’d say yes, because I know her, but just in case I’m wrong, you should ask.”

“I will.”

“Do _I_ have to attend the Academy?”

Giles snorted. “I wouldn’t dream of it; I’m perfectly aware of how much you loathe studying. I would hope you could at least attend some language classes, but I’m not holding my breath." He said it with a smile, and Xander shook his head. Giles picked up the phone then. “Andrew? Would you join us in my office, please?”

“As soon as Andrew’s done with the sketch,” Xander said when Giles had hung up the phone, “I’ll find Niki and the girls, make sure this is really _it_ , and see if it’s the same guy that attacked Niki’s family. I’ll try to talk to Gregory’s Slayers too, maybe they saw something bizarre this morning--even if they really weren’t attacked.”

“I’m not sure you should approach them with the sketch--we wouldn’t want to frighten them more than necessary.”

“Maybe you’re right,” Xander nodded. “But I really think it’s weird, and the best way to know for sure is to ask them. Maybe I could take one of the Watchers who speaks their language with me, so I don’t come across as a freak.”

“You’re not a freak,” Andrew replied, as he stepped into the office, closing the door behind him, and having obviously missed the rest of the conversation.

“Thanks, Andrew, but that’s not what we were talking about.” Xander smiled at him, and handed him the sketch.

“We’ll need you to photocopy this sketch and fax it to both the research department and Dawn ASAP,” Giles said, going around his desk to sit in his chair.

“No problem, captain,” Andrew replied, looking at the sketch. “Dawn’s totally going to figure it out first.”

Xander laughed, grinning up at Giles. “Told you.”

“Yes, yes. Am I the only one who was not aware of Dawn’s apparently brilliant research skills?”

“Yes,” Xander replied, exchanging a smile with Andrew, who had moved to the door, but seemed to be waiting for something. “Go, we really need to figure this one out fast.”

“Oh, Andrew, I almost forgot,” Giles said, and Andrew stopped just before opening the door. “Could you please compile a list of all the Watchers who are due back in the next two or three weeks? I’ll need it on my desk by two o’clock so I can contact them as soon as possible.”

“I’m on it, cap.” Andrew waved at them both, and walked out, holding the sketch out like it was porcelain and very valuable.

“Captain?” Xander asked, eye glinting with laughter.

Giles shrugged, trying not to laugh. “It’s his new, er--thing. I’ve given up asking him not to call me that.”

“Well, it’s a new one. Though I still think 'G-man' was a classic.” He held up his hands at Giles’ horrified expression. “Not that I’m planning on calling you that ever again, but it was still a stroke of genius. At least Andrew’s doing his job.”

“I’m rather impressed with him, actually, not that I would tell him that too often, since his ego is quite big enough as it is.”

“You give the research department and Dawn a call. I’ll go find Niki and the others now.”

“All right. Mrs. Cheever has some ability in Indonesian and Bengali, although I expect it’s rather rusty after all these years. You should ask her if she can talk to Gregory’s charges herself, or accompany you. In the meantime, I’ll impress how urgent the matter is on Dawn and Mr. York in London.”

Xander nodded thoughtfully. “Do you think this could be a demon-for-hire? It seems a little too dumb to be acting on its own.”

“You’re probably right. At any rate, we need to be vigilant. We’ll know more once we’ve figured out what type of demon we’re dealing with,” Giles picked up the phone and started dialing.

With a sigh, Xander stood and went to the door. “Okay then, I’ll see you later--captain.” He heard Giles groan behind him and grinned, walking out and letting the door close behind him.

***

There wasn't a chair in Andrew's office--which Xander was pretty sure had been a broom closet or something before Giles had moved in--except the one behind his desk, so Xander leaned against the wall, pretending not to hear Andrew fighting with the photocopier in the next room. He'd decided that he couldn't get anything done without a copy of the sketch Julia had made. After that, he could go and talk to the girls Gregory had brought back to England.

It probably wouldn't do a lot of good; he didn't seriously believe that Gregory was trying to hide something from the Council, not even out of pride. But maybe the girls had seen _something_ , noticed something unusual. Felt something, even, and then forgotten about it when nothing out of the ordinary had happened. 

Of course, Xander thought when he realized that Andrew had stopped trying to coax the copier to work and had started swearing at it in Klingon, it was possible that once they'd been here for a day or two, they weren't going to have any idea what "unusual" was, any more. 

Especially once the swearing stopped after a minute or so and Andrew came back in the room, holding a stack of photocopies. 

"How many people are you sending that picture to?" Xander asked, grinning. 

Andrew glanced down at the stack, then said, "Here at HQ, we've found that it's a good idea to build some redundancy into the archives." 

_Here at HQ_. It was a good thing it was hard to get annoyed at someone who'd just lost a fight with a Xerox machine. "Yeah, that's probably a smart plan," he said, still smiling as he reached over and took one of the copies from stack. 

"Is that all you needed?" Andrew asked, squeezing between the desk and the filing cabinet to sit down. It was a good thing he was skinny, Xander thought, or he'd have to climb over the desk. 

"Yeah, that's it. Thanks." He'd go see Mrs. Cheever first; not only did he need her to translate for him, but she'd know where to find the girls. 

"I really wish I had more time to talk," Andrew said--and Xander believed him; Andrew might like to make himself sound more important than he was, but he liked to talk a lot more--"but I really do need to fax this drawing off for Mr. Giles, and then Mr. Gregory asked me to confirm that his flight's on schedule...."

"What's with that?" Xander asked. "I thought you were Giles' assistant."

"Mr. Gregory's _extremely_ busy," Andrew said defensively. "He's located more Slayers than anyone else on the Council. It's an honor to be able to help him." 

"Yeah, I get it," Xander muttered. "He's the best Watcher ever." 

Andrew obviously had his sarcasm detector turned off, because he just nodded enthusiastically. "I'm surprised Mr. Giles hasn't tried to convince him to come in from the field," he said. "He's exactly what we need around here."

Xander didn't want to know why they needed Alan Gregory hanging around the place. He didn't _care_ why they needed Alan Gregory in England more than they needed him out in the field. 

He asked anyway. "Why, if he's doing such a good job where he is?"

"The other Watchers will listen to him," Andrew explained. "His family has worked for the Council for six generations. He was the top student in his year at the Academy, and if _he_ thinks what Mr. Giles is doing is a good idea--and he does--then maybe...."

"What was that about the other Watchers?" Xander asked. He knew Giles had had problems convincing some of the retired Watchers to come back to help train the Slayers, or at least to do it _his_ way, but he'd thought everybody who'd gone to work for the re-formed Council was on their side. 

Andrew opened his mouth to answer, and then abruptly closed it. "It's nothing," he said finally. "Well, it isn't _nothing_ , but it's office politics. Nothing you need to worry about."

Xander told himself that what Andrew meant by that was "you have more important things to worry about," which he did, instead of "you're too far out of the loop for you to have any idea what you're worrying about, anyway." 

Which he probably was, when it came right down to it. He was only here for a day or two every few weeks. He didn't know anything about office politics. He didn't _have_ an office. He had a rented room in Windhoek, and he had an SUV with a sleeping bag in the back, and he spent more time in the SUV than the room, anyway. And he had a room here, but it was even emptier than his place in Windhoek. He hadn't exactly been collecting a lot of stuff since leaving Sunnydale. 

"Who's worried?" Xander asked. 

Andrew had already picked up the phone, but he nodded, giving Xander a thumbs-up gesture. Xander folded the drawing, put it in his pocket, and went off to look for Mrs. Cheever.

***

"Well, that was a waste of time," Xander muttered, only realizing that he'd said it out loud when two girls stopped on their way into the dorm and gave him a strange look before going on.

Once he'd explained--at least a little; he wasn't sure how much Giles wanted everyone to know about this right now--why he needed to talk to Sabina and Ayu, Mrs. Cheever had been perfectly willing to drop what she was doing and go over to the classroom buildings with him. 

He hadn't had to keep them out of class for long, which he was sure the girls found disappointing. He'd shown them the sketch, and, with Mrs. Cheever translating, had asked them if they'd ever seen a demon that looked like that. Both girls had been definite that they hadn't, Ayu adding that she hadn't _ever_ seen a demon, and were they _really_ serious that they existed? Sabina, a little more talkative, had told him all about the demon she'd fought while she and Mr. Gregory were traveling, but her description was nothing like the sketch, and it hadn't behaved anything like the demon that had attacked Xander's car the night before. 

That had been pretty much what Xander had expected, but he'd still hoped they'd have noticed something unusual, anything that might give him some idea of what was going on. When he'd asked, though, Sabina had shaken her head immediately. "I was tired," she said in halting English. "In the car, I went to sleep." 

Ayu had had to wait for the translation, but her response, relayed through Mrs. Cheever, was the same. Both girls had been exhausted from their trip, and they'd fallen asleep as soon as they were in the car. No, they hadn't heard anything at all. No, they assured him, they hadn't even had any strange dreams. Ayu had flushed slightly when he'd asked that, and Xander had grinned. She looked like she was about seventeen; Xander was pretty sure that whatever she _had_ been dreaming about, there'd been a boy involved. 

But that had been his last hope, a flash of inspiration when he'd remembered the weird dreams Buffy sometimes had before something terrible happened. He'd sighed, sending the girls back to class, and followed Mrs. Cheever back to the dorm. She'd asked him to come in to wait, but when he'd told her he'd kept her away from her work long enough, he hadn't missed how relieved she looked. Xander thought about how much work it had been looking after three girls, and then multiplied that by twenty. Yeah, she was busy. 

Besides, Xander was fine out here on the steps, watching the Slayers and the wannabe-Watchers running to their next classes. 

And, apparently, dozing off, because the next thing he knew, Niki was squealing, "Xander!" and running up to him, plopping down on the steps next to him and talking a mile a minute. She'd had an arithmetic test and it had been really easy, and did he know they were going to learn about vampires, and she got to be in class with the big girls and boys, and she didn't have to wear a uniform, either. 

That last was said very smugly, and Xander had looked up, still rubbing his eye, to see that Niki was still wearing some of the clothes she'd brought from home. Giles had explained when they'd first set this place up that the students would need to wear uniforms so that people would think this was just another school. That had seemed weird to Xander until he and Andrew had done some sightseeing, and he'd realized that almost all the kids he saw going to and from school had been wearing uniforms. 

Still, he didn't blame Niki for being happy about not having to wear one. "Why not?" he asked when she let him get a word in. 

"Mrs. Cheever has to make one smaller for me," she said. "It might be a week, she said, if she has to go into town to buy it instead." She grinned happily at him, and he grinned back. 

"As cool as that is," he said, "that's not what I was here to talk to you about."

"You came here to talk to me?" 

"Of course I did. I had to hear about your first day, didn't I?" He smiled at her, reaching into his pocket for the drawing. "But right now I need to ask you something else."

She nodded. "Is it going to take too long? I'm supposed to change and then I get to learn how to fight with a _sword_." 

Xander had a mental image of Niki hacking at a target with a sword twice the size she was, and had to remind himself of why he was here in order to keep himself from laughing. "If you're late, just tell them it's my fault." He unfolded the drawing, though he didn't hand it to her yet. "Do you remember the demon that came to your house right before I met you?"

She nodded, her smile fading and her eyes suddenly wide. "Did it come back?" she whispered, clutching at his hand. 

Xander squeezed her hand back, shaking his head. "No," he said quickly. "No, it didn't come back." She didn't say anything, and he added, "You can call your parents tonight after dinner, if you want. Tell Mrs. Cheever that Mr. Giles said it was okay." He'd make sure he mentioned it to Giles; Xander was pretty sure Giles would back him up on this one, though. There was no way Giles was going to leave a little kid scared that a demon had gotten her parents.

"Okay," she said, still whispering. "What about the demon?" 

"Do you remember what it looked like?" 

She nodded vigorously. "Ugly," she said, and Xander smiled. 

"Did it look like this?" He held out the picture now. She took it and studied it for a minute, shaking her head. 

"That was what broke our car last night," she said. 

"Yeah, but is it the same demon that came to your house?" When she shook her head again, he asked, "Are you sure?" 

"Yes," she said, sounding a little exasperated. "That one had horns, and it was brown. The one last night was _green_." 

She sounded certain enough. Xander nodded. "Okay." 

"Can I go now? I don't want to be late." 

"Yeah." He squeezed her hand again, smiling at her. "I'll see you tomorrow, okay?" 

"You're not going home yet?" 

"Not yet," he said. He didn't correct her assumption that Africa was "home"; he called this home, most of the time, but he wasn't sure that was really true. 

"Good." She got to her feet, picking up the book she'd dropped when she'd sat down. "You can come have breakfast with me and Catherine and Océane tomorrow."

"We'll see," he said. Then, as she turned to go into the dorm, he added, "Niki? If you see a demon--especially one that looks like the picture I showed you--promise me you'll find someone else to deal with it, okay?"

"I'm _not_ too little," she said, scowling. 

"No, you're not," he lied quickly. "But some of the other people here have been studying how to kill demons for a long time, and you just started today. So promise me."

"I promise," she said, still pouting a little as she went inside. 

Xander just hoped that was enough to protect her.

***


	3. Chapter 3

"Xander?" Giles asked, as he walked into the house and went down the hall. He found Xander asleep on the couch in the living room, the sketch on the coffee table along with a couple of old and dusty demon manuals Xander had probably found in the library. Smiling warmly, Giles left his briefcase by the door, and walked in, crouching down by the table to look at the books. Both of them were opened, showing two different breeds of demon; one was close to the one they were looking for, but not exactly it; the other was a brown demon with a set of horns the size of a small cat. Giles picked up the second book, frowning, and started to read the description.

It warmed him to know that Xander had started the research himself, despite knowing that several other people were on it. Xander had never really been the kind of person to just wait until the answers were handed out to him, and Giles admired that in him. Many of the Watchers working for the Council had a tendency to wait for other people to do their job, and it irked Giles more than he'd care to admit. Xander, on the other hand, always tried to find it first--or asked Dawn to help him, apparently.

After the demise of Sunnydale, Giles had watched their group disband around the world. But Xander always reminded him that they were still linked, and still ready to do what it took to help each other. It didn't matter that Dawn was in Italy and Xander in Africa, they were in touch, and knew all that was going on in each other's lives. Giles wouldn't be surprised if the same were true for Buffy, and for Willow and Kennedy in South America. Even Andrew always knew what the girls were up to, which should have been a clue that ties made in Sunnydale weren't easily broken, at least for the others.

The demon in the book Giles was holding was an African breed, extremely intelligent, almost humanoid despite their rather repulsing physical attributes. They only attacked humans to steal their belongings, although they preferred to leave none alive after their raids.

Which didn't tell Giles anything about why Xander would have singled them out in his research, unless he'd come across them in Africa and had forgotten to tell Giles about it. Giles looked up from the book at Xander's sleeping form. He was holding a pillow tightly in his arms, his legs curled up against him. Africa had changed him. 

Xander was older, wiser, and while he often clashed with the other Watchers, with his jeans and comfortable shirts, and definite American ways, he looked at peace here, something Giles had dreaded would never happen after Anya's death. Xander had been devastated, and it had taken him a long time to find his balance. He certainly looked like he'd finally found it now.

Giles smiled, standing and putting the book back on the table. He picked up the blanket he always kept on the sofa and covered Xander with it before moving to the kitchen. Giles would let him sleep a bit more.

***

When supper was ready, Giles loaded a tray and went back into the living room, finding Xander sitting up on the couch, rubbing his eye. "Awake, are you?" he asked, smiling softly, as he put the tray on the table, and sat on the chair facing the couch.

"Yeah, sorry, didn't mean to fall asleep." Xander blinked, looking at the food and inhaling deeply. "Got woken up by the smell. I always forget what home-cooked food smells like."

"I'm sure you needed the rest." Giles picked up his plate and crossed his legs. "I've yet to hear from either Dawn or Mr. York. I'm hoping they'll have the answers before bedtime."

Xander snickered. "That would mean there is no bedtime, because we'll spend all night poring over all the information they'll be sending us." He smiled at Giles. "Not that I'd mind the company, actually. It's not often I have a research companion anymore."

Giles smiled back, taking a bite of his food. "Of course. I noticed you started some research of your own," he said once he'd swallowed, nodding towards the books that were still on the table.

With a nod, Xander picked up the book that Giles had been looking at earlier. "I asked Niki, and she assured me that it's not the same demon who attacked her parents, so I'm--at a loss, I guess. She said the demon that attacked her house was brown and had horns, and this is the only African demon that fits both of those criteria. I thought at first that maybe it had ties with the other demon, but now I don't think so. It's indigenous to Africa, and doesn't deal with outsiders." He scratched his head. "I'm going to have to ask her again, make sure this is really the one, but if it is, then I just don't know."

Giles pushed Xander's plate towards him. "Eat. There'll be time for worrying later." They ate in silence for a little while, and not for the first time, Giles wondered at the comfortable atmosphere. It hadn't always been that way between Xander and him--friendship, perhaps, but this level of comfort had never been a part of it. It seemed to be increasing now, every time Xander spent time in this house.

Xander was the only one of them to visit England so often. Giles knew Africa wasn't home to him, and probably never would be--but then, he didn't think England was home to Xander either. Not yet, at any rate. And Giles didn't know what he could do to make it so.

Dismissing the thought, Giles put his empty plate back on the tray, a smile touching his lips when he saw that Xander had also finished his food. "All right, what is the second demon you found?"

Xander shook his head, picking up the book. "This is what's closest to our demon that I could find, but it's not it. It says it's a peaceful tribe from western Canada. Way too far away to be what we're looking for."

"Some demons for hire travel far--"

"Maybe, but this demon is lacking a lot of the big stuff from the sketch: the forehead's too narrow, the nose too puffy, and it doesn't have claws. And it looks shorter. And it's a peaceful tribe, not the sort of tribe to breed hire-able killers."

With a nod, Giles picked up the second book again. "Perhaps once we've found what the demon who attacked you and Gregory is, we might be able to connect it to this one--"

"I doubt it. Even if the demon that attacked us is a demon for hire, this one," he said, pointing at the book. "Is definitely not." Xander sighed, closed the book he was holding and put it back on the table. "I've studied African tribes a lot, and when it says it doesn't deal well with outsiders, it really means just that. Oh, and Gregory's girls both said they didn't see anything unusual last night--oh, and let me tell you, Ayu's going to be a handful --she doesn't believe demons really exist."

Giles smiled. "Well, she won't be the first. I'm glad that you've at least checked that out, even if it didn't get us anywhere. Mrs. Cheever helped, then?"

"Yeah. Niki wants me to have breakfast with her, Catherine and Ocean in the morning."

"This girl has really taken to you, hasn't she?" Giles put the open book on top of the other one and leaned back in his chair, looking at Xander, his smile never fading.

"Yeah, she did," Xander said, blushing slightly. "I--I know we're not supposed to get close to the Slayers--"

Giles snickered. "Xander, I'd like you to remember who you are talking to. I wouldn't question your attachment to Nkiruka. I think it's rather nice, actually. At her age, so far from home, she'll definitely need the support of a trusted adult." And Xander needed something--someone--to anchor him. Not that Giles would say it out loud, but Xander needed to know he was valued, and trusted, and looked up to. He still had trouble believing he was good at what he did, and Giles wished there was some way he could tell Xander how wonderful a job he was doing without seeming like he was patronizing him.

"I just hope she'll be okay here; I won't be around all the time." Xander's tone was wistful, and Giles frowned.

"If you don't want to leave again, there's more than enough work that you can do at the Academy."

Xander smiled and shook his head. "I like traveling, and I'm even starting to like Africa. It'll never be home, but the people there--" He looked up at Giles, and their eyes locked. Something passed between them in that moment, and they couldn't look away. "Giles, I--"

Then the phone rang.

Tearing his eyes away from Xander, Giles stood and went to pick up the cordless phone from the table by the door. "Rupert Giles speaking."

"Giles?" Dawn's voice came through the receiver, instantly recognizable. "I was expecting Andrew." Giles had had Andrew forward the calls that came into the office through to his private line, hoping that Dawn or York might call back that evening. 

"Oh, hello, Dawn." Giles walked back toward the chair, carrying the phone with him. 

"Hey." There was a pause of a second or two, and then Dawn went right on. "I know it's kind of late, but Andrew made it sound like you needed the lowdown on this demon right away, so--"

Giles had been about to assure her that it wasn't too late to call him when Dawn's words sunk in. "You've found something?" 

He glanced over at the couch. Xander grinned at him, mouthing, "I told you so." Giles shook his head, sitting down and concentrating on what Dawn was saying. 

"I think so," Dawn said. "It's only in one of my books, though, so I couldn't confirm it. But it looks exactly like the picture Andrew faxed me." 

"Wonderful," Giles said. "What is it?"

"Something with too many consonants in a row," Dawn said. "I tried saying it earlier and gave myself a sore throat. It'll be in my notes, though, so you'll be able to see for yourself." Then she paused. "You _do_ want to see for yourself, right? This isn't like when Xander calls me with questions just to keep me busy?"

Giles couldn't help but laugh. "He does?"

"He calls me with descriptions of things that have never even set _foot_ \--or claw, or tentacle, or whatever--in Africa in the past five hundred years. It's kind of obvious." 

He'd have to bring that up with Xander later. "No," Giles said. "I assure you, we genuinely need this information."

"Okay," Dawn said, still sounding a little doubtful. "I just wondered why you wanted to know about a demon that supposedly hasn't ever been seen more than a couple hundred miles south of the Arctic Circle." 

"I assure you, it has been," Giles told her. "There's one in England right now--at least, there was this morning--and there may have been sightings in Japan and Turkey in the past two weeks." He'd have to have copies of the drawing sent to the Watchers who'd been present for some of the more recent attacks. 

Xander leaned forward then, giving Giles a questioning look, and Giles realized that he hadn't yet mentioned the other attacks to Xander. He'd been keeping that to himself, trying not to worry anyone until he was certain there was a pattern to the attacks on the Slayers. It could just be coincidence. Slayers _were_ sought out by a great number of demons who thought the best way to deal with the threat was to eliminate it before the Slayers could hunt the demons down. The last thing he needed was to cause an unnecessary panic. 

"You're sure?" Dawn asked. "Because... well, there's this whole long explanation about some demon clan in Alaska and the Yukon Territory, and how they had a... do demons _have_ religion?"

"Some do," Giles said, wondering precisely how demon theology entered into this. 

"Weird," Dawn said, before going on. "Well, they had what sounds a lot like a religious war, and the losers moved farther north. The group that won was... well, for demons, they don't sound too bad. It sounds like they mostly stay to themselves and avoid humans as much as possible."

"...And the other group?" Giles asked. 

"They... well, they're in the Arctic Circle," Dawn said. "They're probably not a huge threat. But this book says they were more... hang on, let me look at my notes." There was the sound of rustling papers, and then Dawn came back on the line. "War-like and aggressive, and a lot more hostile to humans."

That would explain the differences in attitude, at least, between the demon they were looking for and the one Xander had found. It wouldn't explain the physical differences, but if the demons in the splinter group had been primarily from one or two family groupings, and there'd been time for inbreeding--"How long ago was that?" 

"A couple hundred years, maybe?" Dawn said. "This book's pretty recent, but the author apparently spent a year or so up there studying the main group, and then went looking for that second clan. She didn't find out a lot before she had to get out of there, but she did get some pictures." 

That could have been enough time for the more subtle physical differences to develop, although he wasn't certain how they could have developed claws in that short time span. Still, he'd have a look at Dawn's research. It did seem like a possibility, if someone else were controlling the demons. He couldn't imagine why a remote clan from the Arctic would be bothering, otherwise; he couldn't remember ever hearing of the Council sending the Slayer to that area... although, he remembered, there'd been a Slayer attacked about six months ago, shortly after the Council had made contact with her--at her home in Fairbanks. 

"Send me everything you have on those demons," Giles said. "As quickly as possible."

There was another short pause before Dawn said, "Okay... I can fax over my notes tonight, and then e-mail Andrew a better report tomorrow? And I'll send you the name of that book. It's pretty new, so you ought to be able to get a copy without any trouble." 

"That's perfect, Dawn. Thank you." He could hear Xander clearing his throat, although he didn't actually need the reminder of what they'd discussed earlier, "And when you send Andrew your report, be sure to include a statement of how many hours you've spent on this project, so we can pay you."

"Pay--you don't have to pay me, Giles. I like helping." He thought she sounded pleased, though. 

"And I'm very grateful that you do, but from now on, any time you help us, I want you to send Andrew a statement of your hours, and any expenses you might have--that book, for example." Even when the Council had been at full strength, they'd occasionally had to consult outside experts, and lately, they'd had to rely on them even more. He was a bit surprised he hadn't considered hiring Dawn before now; once Xander had suggested it, it had seemed perfectly reasonable. 

"You'll be paid at the lower end of our fee scale, of course," he went on, "until you've finished university--by which point I hope you'll be considering joining us full-time." He'd talk to her about training once this situation was under control, he decided. The sooner they worked out the details, the better. 

While Dawn squealed into the phone, Giles looked over at Xander, who gave him a thumbs-up and a tight smile. Giles smiled back, wondering if the strain of the past two days was getting to Xander more than he'd admitted. 

"I'll fax that stuff over now," Dawn said once she'd calmed down a little. "Ignore the stuff at the top of the page; I was doing homework." 

"Thank you," he said again, and then, as Xander held out his hand for the phone, "and I think Xander wants to talk to you now." He handed the phone to Xander, picking up the tray with their plates on it instead and leaving Xander to his conversation. 

By the time he'd taken care of the washing-up, the fax had come through, and Giles picked the papers up, rifling through them. Dawn's handwriting was large and loopy, but readable, and a quick scan through the notes (credited to chapter nine of _Ethnology of the Demon Cultures of Alaska and the Yukon_ , by H. Doyle) confirmed what she'd just told him on the telephone: this could very well be their demon. 

One phrase jumped out at him suddenly from a list of the physical traits of the larger, more peaceful, demon tribe: _retractable claws_ , with Dawn's note, _(like a cat, I guess?)_ to one side of it. That was the one piece of description that he hadn't been able to mesh well with Dawn's research, and there it was, explained for him. 

They were onto something, he was sure of it. He still didn't know what had provoked the demons to go hunting Slayers, but they were on the right track. 

He left a note for Andrew, asking him to make certain Dawn was paid for her work as well as to find a copy of that book for him--three copies, he decided, crossing out that part of the note and changing it: one for the research department--well, York and his assistant--in London, one for the library here, and one for his personal library, so he could access it without having to wonder if one of the students had checked it out. 

Then, putting the faxes from Dawn into a manila folder and tucking it under his arm, he went back to join Xander. 

Xander was looking straight at him when Giles came in. Giles handed him the folder, his face grim, and he sat down on the chair.

"Anything you forgot to tell me?" Xander asked, opening the folder and looking down at the faxes Dawn had sent.

"Pardon?"

"Other attacks, Giles?" Xander asked. "You just told _Dawn_ that there have been more than just the two attacks. You never mentioned that." Xander's tone was cold, and he was scanning the pages, turning them with a bit too much force.

Giles sighed, leaning against the back of his chair. He rubbed his eyes tiredly. "I'm not sure these attacks are related to the attacks on Gregory and yourself. I didn't want to worry you for no reason."

"I'm already worried."

"Exactly. There was no reason for me to add any more. Especially since they are most probably not related. Dawn has explained quite a lot. The demons we are dealing with are related to the ones you found, apparently. There was a tribe war and they were exiled to the north--"

"You're not off the hook, you know. You could have told me."

Xander sounded hurt, and Giles felt a twinge of guilt as he picked up one of the books. "Xander, I thought it would be better if--"

"I get it," Xander said, putting down the file on the coffee table. "Maybe I should go to bed."

"We have to--"

"You probably can figure it out without me anyway." Xander smiled tightly, and stood, heading for the door. 

"Xander, sit down, please."

Xander stopped and sighed, putting his hand on the doorway. "Giles--I'm--"

"I never meant to imply that I don't trust you, if that's what you think. I simply didn't want to alarm you even more. I truly need your help here." Giles took his glasses off his nose and rubbed his eyes. "The attacks in Japan and Turkey were brought to my attention the day before you arrived. I didn't think much of them until this morning. Slayers are attacked daily; this isn't anything new."

Xander let out a shaky breath, and turned back to look at Giles, leaning against the doorframe. "Turkey and Japan aren't any closer to the Arctic Circle than England, are they? It makes no sense for the demons to go there."

"Just as it makes no sense for them to come to England. Which is why we need to get to work on this."

"You could have half the Council on this in minutes, Giles, you don't really need me. These guys know more about everything than I do."

Giles sighed, closing his eyes for a minute, and then looking back up into Xander's face. "I don't trust them the way I trust you. I don't want anyone to panic; I especially don't want the girls to panic and think something's going to come after them. I need someone I can trust to work on this with me."

"You know that all the girls know by now; girls talk. A lot." Xander came back to the couch and sat down facing Giles.

"Yes, but if the word gets out, I'm not quite sure how the Watchers themselves will handle this. They could see this as a failure on my part," Giles said, shaking his head.

"Giles--"

"I know you don't believe in yourself, Xander, but I do. And this is a matter in which I genuinely need your help."

Xander looked down to hide the blush that spread on his cheeks. "Thanks, but Giles, you didn't fail. Nothing you did made this happen."

"I'm aware of that. I'm not foolish enough to think that demonic activity of any kind is my fault. But it isn't the way others will see it."

Xander didn't say anything for a moment, and then, finally, he said, "I don't know how to keep it from getting out, Giles. Like I said, the girls have probably told everyone by now. I can ask Catherine and Ocean to downplay it some--they probably haven't said all that much, since Ocean doesn't speak a lot of English and Catherine... she's just not a big talker."

"And Nkiruka?"

"She's ten. This is the most excitement she's ever had in her life. You know she's got to have told _everybody_. But if the other two aren't making a big deal out of it, maybe people will think Niki's exaggerating a little bit."

Giles sighed. "That's something, at least." Word would get around the school quickly, if it hadn't already, but it was very possible that the staff would chalk much of it up to exaggeration and one-upmanship among the girls. If for no other reason, he thought wryly, than that they wouldn't like to believe their students knew more about the situation than they themselves did. 

"The research department," Xander said abruptly. 

"Pardon?" 

"The research department, York and what's-her-name." 

"Bishop," Giles supplied. "What about them?"

"They know something's going on," Xander pointed out. "And it came from you, not one of the girls, so there's no way they're going to believe it was just something that got blown out of proportion." 

"I'd thought of that," Giles said. Even a year ago, he might not have done, but he was getting entirely too good at the politics required by his job. There'd been a brief period of respite at the beginning, when everyone was still too shocked by what had happened to their colleagues, their friends--their relatives, given the Council's rather insular nature--to make things difficult for him. That time was long gone, however, and if he hadn't learned to anticipate their games and play his own, he would have found himself out of a job months ago. 

It wasn't that he'd miss the job itself, but he didn't like the thought of someone trying to restore all the old traditions he'd put an end to. 

"And?" Xander asked. 

"They're serving as a... a benchmark," Giles said. "I'm evaluating Dawn's research skills. The task itself is irrelevant." He smiled slightly. "It's close to the truth, at least. I did want to see how Dawn's research compared to York's." 

"I'm guessing she passed?"

"She certainly made a favorable impression." He gestured toward the file in his hand. "The speed could partly be attributed to a teenaged girl wanting a reason to avoid doing her homework, but she was remarkably thorough." 

"If you ask her, she'll start putting a little paragraph up front where she answers the question 'How do I kill it?' in a hundred words or less." Xander's smile this time was far less strained-looking. "I never have the heart to tell her that most of the time, that's the only paragraph I bother to read." 

From Xander's reports, Giles sincerely doubted that; he was sure that was what Xander focused on when there was a crisis, but once it had passed, he obviously went back through the information more carefully. "That might be helpful in the future," he agreed. 

Xander rubbed the back of his neck. He still looked tired, Giles noticed, remembering that the last time they'd spoken on the phone, Xander had been looking forward to taking some time off before returning to Africa. This certainly wasn't turning out to be much of a holiday for him, and Giles momentarily regretted relying on Xander so much to help him find out what was going on. 

He pushed the regret aside. He _did_ need someone he could trust, and Xander wouldn't have wanted to be left out, anyway. He certainly wouldn’t have been able to rest if he'd been afraid that any of the Slayers were in danger, no matter how strenuously Giles might insist that he had the matter under control. 

And since he wasn't even close to having things under control, Giles didn't see a better option than asking Xander for help. He could trust Xander, after all, and there was no doubt that Xander was as concerned about the girls as he himself was. 

"We can wait until morning to go through Dawn's notes," Giles offered. He'd spend much of the night looking through them, regardless, but at least _one_ of them could get a few hours' sleep. 

"I'd never be able to sleep," Xander said. "Just let me make some coffee and I'll be fine." As he turned to go, he added, "We should set up in the dining room. There's space for us to spread all Dawn's notes out."

Giles nodded. The dining room had the other advantage that it was in the "private" part of the house, rather than the part that housed the offices; he could close the doors and keep people out without anyone thinking it odd of him, and since Xander was staying there, no one would be surprised that Xander had the run of the place. "Let me just put the coffee on, then."

"I've been here often enough. I know where things are," Xander said, starting down the hall toward the kitchen. 

Giles picked up some of the books Xander had been looking through earlier; now that they knew what they were dealing with, the information Xander had found about the original group could be useful. He pulled a few more books from the shelves, running his finger over the spines as he considered which volumes might be most helpful. Then, putting the folder of Dawn's notes on top of the stack, he headed for the dining room. 

He could still hear Xander moving around in the kitchen, so he left the books on the table, going across the hall to his office to get pens and paper. These days, he wasn't accustomed to having other people around while he worked; he worked at his desk, or took books upstairs if he wanted to work late into the night. This, he thought, was going to be a pleasant change. 

Giles came back into the dining room just as Xander entered through the other set of doors, carrying two mugs with steam rising from them. "That's very thoughtful," Giles said, "but I doubt I'll drink it, Xander; take it when you need a second cup."

"It's not coffee," Xander said. "It's tea." A smile flickered over his lips briefly. "Probably really bad tea, but still tea."

Giles smiled, taking the cup from Xander’s hand, and sat down. He pulled a book closer and opened it, and then took a careful sip of his tea, both to avoid the burn, and because he wasn’t sure of the taste. “This isn't bad,” he said, impressed. “Quite good, actually.”

“I’m sure you’re just saying that to make me feel better,” Xander said, pulling another chair closer to Giles’ and sitting down. “But thanks anyway.”

“Hardly,” Giles said, looking at Xander and taking another sip. “Do you really think I’d drink this if it was as foul as you believe it is?"

“I never said it was ‘foul’, just not very good.” Xander smiled. “Okay, so--where should we start?”

Giles pushed the folder containing Dawn’s notes towards Xander. “We should go through Dawn’s notes first, and then see if we can find references in the books to anything she mentions.”

Xander nodded and opened the folder. He took about half of the papers, and gave the rest to Giles. “Cross-referencing,” he said. “That’s my idea of a good time.”

“Please, don’t mock me,” Giles replied, smiling. “Cross-referencing is a valuable research tool.” 

“Hey, I wasn’t mocking. I’ve learned to value cross-referencing over the past few months.”

“All right,” Giles said, shaking his head. “We should probably start with mentions of the demons and work our way from there.”

“Sure.”

Two hours later, they still hadn’t found anything of note in the books, and Giles was starting to wonder if they’d find anything at all. He looked over at Xander and smiled. Xander’s head was pillowed on his forearm, facing Giles, and his eye was closed. “Are you sleeping?”

“Mmm? No, I’m not.” Xander looked at Giles, and gave him a sleepy smile. “I’m just resting.”

“Of course,” Giles said softly. “Found anything?”

Xander shook his head. “No, this book is totally useless. I’ve gone through it four times, and there’s nothing.” He sat up and rubbed his eye, groaning and reaching for another book.

“Perhaps you should go to bed.”

“No, we need to do this.” Xander was resolved. He opened the new book, and skimmed the table of contents.

“I’ll make you some more coffee, then.” Giles stood up and walked to the kitchen. He started up the coffee pot, and then set to preparing his own tea.

“Maybe we should get something to eat too?” Xander leaned in the doorway, still blinking the sleep out of his eye.

“That wouldn’t be a bad idea. Although, Xander, if you need to sleep, we can continue to research in the morning. And by then, perhaps York and Bishop might have got back to us with their own findings. We’ve gone through all of Dawn’s material, and it’s evident that my library is severely lacking the right books.”

Xander nodded. “Maybe--but I still think we should keep looking anyway. We don’t know when they’ll strike again.”

“No, we don’t, but that doesn’t mean you shouldn’t sleep at all. Especially not when you so clearly need it.” Giles poured the boiling water into his cup, and turned to face Xander.

“You know, you could just tell me you want to do it alone. I understand; I’m cramping your style.”

Giles crossed the kitchen and touched Xander’s shoulder, which made Xander look at him. “No, you’re not. I’m simply worried. You’ve barely slept since finding Nkiruka, and forcing yourself to stay awake isn’t going to help.”

“Let's just--I’ll have this cup of coffee,” Xander said, pouring himself a cup and adding sugar and milk, “and we’ll go back to researching, and if I fall asleep on the books, you can put me to bed. How’s that?”

Giles wasn’t fully happy with this plan, but it was better than Xander simply refusing to acknowledge that he was tired. “All right.” He picked up his tea and a packet of biscuits, and made his way back to the dining room, Xander on his tail.

Xander sank down in his chair, gulping coffee and stealing a biscuit from the packet as soon as Giles set it down. Giles reached for the nearest book, pulling it closer to him, although he didn't expect to find anything. He didn't have the resources here; the first copy of anything useful they managed to acquire or replace went to the research department in London, and he was beginning to think that if they did have any references that would help them deal with the demons, they were in books rare enough that they hadn't yet found a second copy. 

At least this book was modern enough to have an index, and that spared him from having to do what Xander was currently occupied with: carefully turning page after yellowing page, looking for anything that might be referring to the demon that had been attacking the Slayers. And finding nothing, but the same could be said about his own search as well.

The rustling of the pages of Xander's book slowed; without looking up, Giles asked, "Did you find something?" 

Xander didn't answer, and Giles realized that the other thing that had slowed was Xander's breathing; it was deep and even now, and when Giles did look up, it was to see that Xander's head was once again resting on his arms. He'd pushed the book out of his way first, and Giles smiled, thankful that maturity had taught Xander the proper respect for books. 

"Xander." Giles nudged him slightly, and Xander sat bolt upright, looking around him warily. 

"What--" he began and stopped, reaching up to rub his eye and then turning to Giles. "Would you believe 'resting' again?" he asked hopefully. 

Giles shook his head. "Go upstairs and get some sleep. I know," he added, when Xander opened his mouth to protest, "you want to help, but surely you can see that you'll be more help when you're awake enough to remain sitting upright?" 

Xander sighed. "Okay, I'll go," he said, yawning and stretching. Then he stopped and looked at Giles for a moment. "But you're coming with me."

He didn't even have time to raise an eyebrow before Xander cleared his throat and added, "And by that I mean, 'you don't look any more awake than I do, so you should go to bed,' and not anything that could fall under the description of 'sexual harassment.'"

"That never occurred to me," Giles assured him. Or rather, it had, but he'd correctly assumed that Xander hadn't meant it the way that it sounded. He sighed. "And I suppose you're right," he added. "It has been a long day."

"Say that again."

"It's been a long day," Giles repeated. "I was up early, trying to sort through some of the paperwork on my desk before I met with the new Slayers, and--"

"No, the other part." Xander smiled. "The part where I'm right. I never get tired of that."

"I could put a note in your personnel file," Giles said dryly. It wasn't as though Xander was never right these days, after all; he'd been doing exemplary work in Africa. 

"Not yet," Xander said, picking up the mugs and the biscuits and heading toward the kitchen. Giles hadn't realized just how much at home Xander had made himself here, and he found that he liked it. 

From the next room, he heard Xander go on, "Wait until you do more than 'suppose' I'm right, and _then_ put the note in."

Smiling, Giles turned to go up to his room.

***


	4. Chapter 4

It was mid-morning before Giles heard from York, and by then, Xander was back from his breakfast with the Slayers and had set up in the dining room again, doggedly searching through every book Giles had while Giles took care of some of the unavoidable business of running both the Council and the school.   
  
He was trying to make sense of Andrew's summary of the field teams' expense reports when the phone rang, startling him. "Rupert Giles here," he said, setting the folder aside with relief.   
  
"Mr. Giles, it's Stephen York."   
  
"I hope you're calling with good news about that project I sent you yesterday," Giles said.   
  
"Well, news, at least," York said, "though you'll have to tell me how good it is."   
  
"If you can tell us anything about that demon, it's good news." He'd wait until this was over to point out to York that a high school student taking a break from her algebra homework had found the results twelve hours before the Council's research department had. Right now, he was just hoping that York had found something Dawn hadn't, something that might lead them to the reason why the demons had ventured this far out of their usual territory.   
  
"Then it's good news, sir," York said. "I've got some preliminary information, and Bishop's working on a more detailed report. She got a bit bogged down; doesn't agree with Frederick Marley's translation of the Gi'iz...."  
  
Ordinarily, Giles might have found that interesting; if Marley--who'd been dead for at least two hundred and fifty years by now--took the same liberties with Gi'iz that he had with Akkadian, Bishop might have a point. Right now, though, there was something far more important. "Yes, that's fine. Send what you have now, and then Bishop can forward the rest when she's finished--as quickly as possible," he added. "I don't need a perfect translation; a general summary will do for the time being."   
  
"Yes, sir, of course. I'll fax it over straight away." York paused. "Is there some particular reason that you're asking about this demon?" he asked, then quickly added, "I only ask because it might help us to focus our research."  
  
That was quite reasonable, but Giles found he wasn't ready to let the Council know what was happening. As soon as they had some idea what they were up against, then he'd call a meeting, bring everyone in from the field and explain to them just what sort of danger their Slayers were in. Right now, he wouldn't have any answers for them, anyway. "Just a private project Xander Harris and I are working on," he said. "Something that came up when he was in Africa."   
  
"All right. Well, I'll send you whatever we turn up," York said.   
  
Giles thanked him and hung up the phone, getting up and going to the outer office, where the fax machine was. The fax from York was already coming through, and Giles picked up the first few pages, skimming them while he waited.   
  
The first pages were copies of one of York's references--text on one side, and on the other, a drawing of a demon that looked very much like the one they were looking for. Giles smiled out of sheer relief. The Council had information on these demons. They'd be able to find out what was going on, and most importantly, how to stop them.   
  
His smile faded as he read the text accompanying the picture, describing the demons as being a solitary species; the largest concentration of them was in central Asia, but they were found all over the world.   
  
Giles pulled the other pages off the fax machine, going through them as quickly as he could. All of them gave him the same information--a wide-ranging demon species, extremely unintelligent, highly territorial and only attacking humans when they felt they or their young were in danger. Apart from the physical description, the demons couldn't sound less like the ones Dawn had described.   
  
Frowning, Giles gathered up the papers and went to find Xander.   
  
  


***

  
  
  
Xander picked up the papers from Giles’ hands. “What do you mean, not the same demons?” He looked down at the image and then back at Giles. “It looks the same.”  
  
“Yes, yes,” Giles said, sitting down and taking off his glasses. “They look the same, or at least, similar enough that one could be mistaken for the other. Or perhaps, Dawn’s information was wrong--“  
  
“ _Dawn_ ’s information? Why not York’s? I would seriously believe Dawn over that stupid--“  
  
“Please refrain from finishing that,” Giles said, sighing. “I must admit, I wish Dawn was right, but this information,” he continued, pointing to the documents in Xander’s hands, “is less puzzling. And York has several acknowledged sources to back it up.”  
  
“Acknowledged by whom?” Xander asked, annoyed. “The old Council? You know they were full of it, Giles. And when was it written anyway? Centuries ago? Dawn’s source is new, like, written in the past ten years. Not two centuries old. A lot of things can change in two hundred years."  
  
Giles looked at him for a few seconds and then picked up Dawn’s documents, shuffling through them quickly. “You do have a point on the date of the source, of course, but I’d still wait for Bishop’s more thorough report. She has issues with the translation of the Gi’iz, which I’m sure is well-founded.”  
  
“So there’s a possibility that York’s information is wrong?” Xander perked up at that, and shot Giles a look that clearly said "I told you so."  
  
“One of York’s sources might be wrong, but he still has all the other sources which are saying essentially the same thing.” Giles put his glasses back on his nose and stood, going into the kitchen to make some tea. “Of course, we can also argue that they might both be wrong,” he said, loudly enough for Xander to hear. “Perhaps we should look for more information about York’s demons, and see if we can find anything? We haven’t found the tiniest bit about Dawn’s demons, perhaps it’ll be the same with these.”   
  
“And what happens if we find some on York’s?” Xander asked, trying not to sound too much on the defensive. He hated the implication that Dawn was wrong, but Giles  _was_  right. York did have multiple sources backing him up, even though Xander really questioned their accuracy, considering they were older than the telephone.  
  
“Then we’ll have to assume Dawn is wrong, at least until proven otherwise.” Giles sighed, and leaned against the doorway, waiting for the water to boil. “Truly, Xander, I hope Dawn is right, for many reasons--all of which are more personal than professional. And that is why I’m more inclined to believe York’s sources at this point.”  
  
Xander didn't answer anything to that, just picked up the nearest book and started turning the pages angrily. He hated York. Always had, from the first moment he'd met the guy. He was one of the old ones left from the Council explosion. He'd been there when it exploded. Well, not  _in_  the building, but on his way in; he'd been hurt and spent weeks in the hospital. York had totally hated being relegated to the research department, but he seriously wasn't in any state to do any fieldwork. It was that, or work here with Giles, and he hated Giles, and Xander, and anyone who came from Sunnydale. Xander wouldn't be surprised if York was one of the Watchers Andrew had mentioned who were questioning Giles' involvement with the Council.  
  
That still didn't mean he was wrong. "York  _has_  to be wrong," Xander said aloud, scratching his head as he read over a paragraph of the document he was still holding. "It just--he has to."  
  
Giles sighed and started pacing near the table. Xander counted the steps: five steps to the right, turn around, five steps to the left, turn around, and repeat. "This is all very frustrating," he said, taking his glasses off and polishing them with his shirtsleeve as he walked. "The pictures are the same, for both Dawn's and York's demons; they are our demon. We simply need to put our finger on which stack of information is the accurate one."  
  
"Nothing in the actual description matches," Xander added. "Nothing. They're not from the same continent, don't have the same tendency to violence, or the same level of intelligence--I mean, one has a  _religion_ , the other probably doesn't even think beyond what's instinctive. None of the same history--"  
  
"Yes." Giles stopped pacing and went into the kitchen again. He came back a minute later with a cup of steaming tea in his hands, and he sat down in his chair. "Perhaps what we need is Dawn's book in our hands."  
  
"Did Andrew find it yet?"  
  
"I haven't heard from him about it. I suspect he hasn't, or he would have mentioned it."  
  
"You should call him. Tell him it's urgent and he should do it ASAP instead of waiting until things quiet down. He probably thought that it wasn't that important," Xander said. "He'll find a copy and have it shipped here by tomorrow if he tries hard. Dawn said the book's easy to find since it's new."  
  
"I'll ask, then. I've never heard of this--" Giles picked up the stack of papers from Dawn, and searched for the book's reference. "H. Doyle before. Perhaps I should look into his references. That would tell us if he can be trusted, at least."  
  
"You call Andrew, I'll fire up the Internet and see what I can find about our friend H."  
  
"The Internet? Xander, I hardly think you'll find--"  
  
Xander laughed. "Oh, you  _are_  still living in the dark ages, Giles. Seriously, if you want to know something about someone, the first place to look is the Internet. It'll take two seconds, and I'll have all the information I need." He squeezed Giles' shoulder. "It's fine, you know, the computer won't eat me."   
  
Giles snorted and stood up, obviously deciding not to answer that. He went into the next room while Xander went into the office to grab Giles' laptop. It was easier than going upstairs to grab his own. When he came back, he could hear Giles talking to Andrew; then, just as Xander booted up the laptop, he came back into the dining room, still carrying the phone. "Thank you, Andrew. I wouldn't be asking you if this wasn't important." Giles hung up, dumping the handset on the table and watching Xander type.  
  
"Aha! Here it is," Xander said, hunching over to read the information on the screen. "Hey! H. is a she! Harriet Doyle. I don't know why we always assume everyone's a guy first."  
  
Giles shook his head, smiling and bending over Xander's shoulder. "Mmm, it seems there isn't any more information than this."  
  
Xander took a deep breath, suddenly nervous about having Giles so close to him. Which was weird, but not the point. "Yeah," he said, licking his lips. "You need a password to get to the good stuff."  
  
"I'm not quite sure I understand--"  
  
Xander shook his head and pushed the laptop away, a bit disappointed when that made Giles move away too. "Some people who don't want their information easily accessible will protect their site with a password. It keeps people from just stumbling on the site and learning all about demons when they were just trying to plan for their trip to Canada."  
  
"How do we get this password, then?" Giles picked up Dawn's documents, fumbling with them and nearly dropping them before he got them in order again.  
  
"Maybe we email H-for-Harriet and ask her?" Xander shrugged. "Or maybe the password's somewhere in the book."  
  
"Should we call Dawn, or wait for Andrew to find the book, do you think?" Giles asked, frowning. "I'd rather not contact this woman and have her suspect anything."  
  
Xander looked at the clock and bit the inside of his cheek, trying to figure out what time it was in Italy. "Mmm, I think we should call Dawn first. She's at school right now, but she'll be out in a couple hours, so we can call then. If it's not in the book, I'll send H. Doyle an email; I promise not to sound suspicious."  
  
Giles nodded and went back to reading Dawn's notes. Xander picked up the stack of papers from York that he'd pushed aside earlier and started to read again. He sighed after a few minutes and rubbed his nose. "I'm sure we're missing something."  
  
"Pardon?" Giles said, looking up from his own reading.  
  
"There's a piece of the puzzle missing, and when we find that piece, everything will make sense," Xander said. "I have to believe that, because otherwise, I'm going to go crazy."  
  
Giles shook his head and smiled. "I believe that would be the reason we're researching."  
  
"Yeah, but it's something else. I don't think H.'s references, whatever they may be, are going to have a huge impact here, because I'm sure she's the one who's right." Xander pushed York's files towards Giles. "See, if York's right, we have the motive: the demons feel threatened because of the number of Slayers, so they want to eliminate as many as possible, so that the threat is less, you know, threatening. It's too easy. I don't buy it.  
  
"The demon we fought wasn't dumb. So okay, it was dumb, because it attacked a car full of slayers, but… It attacked my side first." Xander paused, surprised. "Huh… it fled when it saw the Slayers, which shows signs of some kind of intelligence. What if--" He shook his head. "Never mind."  
  
Giles must have followed Xander's thinking much better than he usually did; he frowned. "No, I think you might be on to something. Let me make a call." He picked up the cordless from where he'd put it earlier and quickly dialed a number.  
  
"I'm sorry to bother you again, Andrew. Would you happen to have the report for the damage done to Gregory's car yesterday?"   
  
Xander waited for Giles to say something else, hoping that it would be enough to let him know what was going on. Maybe he ought to try to convince Giles to start using speakerphones.  
  
"All right, Andrew, I'll take a look tomorrow," Giles said, sounding impatient. "Can you call me as soon as you have Gregory's report?"  
  
Then it clicked, and Xander realized what Giles was after.   
  
Another, shorter, pause, and then, "Thank you."  
  
As soon as Giles hung up the phone, Xander said, "So… if Gregory was attacked on the driver's side too…"  
  
"Then we might have been wrong when we thought the Slayers were the target." Giles closed his eyes and pinched the bridge of his nose. "Unless the demons are intelligent enough that they know to put the Watchers out of commission first before attacking their targets." He sighed when Xander put a hand on his shoulder. "In either case, Dawn's source would be the right one, as it means the demons are intelligent enough to think on their own."  
  
Xander bit his lower lip and squeezed his hand. "I hate saying this, because whoa, scary, but it makes a lot more sense if Dawn's right  _and_  the Watchers are--you know." He paused for a moment. "If York's right, why would the demons attack one at a time? If they think the Slayers are threatening their kids, and they're scared of them, it would make more sense to attack in groups of two or three to make sure they have the upper hand. And they wouldn't run from the Slayers. They're dumb, but why attack in the first place if you're just going to run away? And they have enough instincts to be protective, so they'd have enough to know that you don't attack a Slayer, or three, without backup."  
  
Giles nodded thoughtfully. "Of course, if the Watchers are the target, they'd only need to cause a car accident, killing the driver and escaping before the Slayer can react. Unless they weren't counting on there being three Slayers in your car yesterday, since you were only supposed to be bringing Nkiruka…"  
  
"But they couldn't know that. Not if they're as dumb as York says they are."  
  
Giles sighed, and nodded. "I'm still not certain York's sources are wrong. There are just too many to make that assumption, and I'd rather believe the demons are dumb and the solution is that easy, than believe that something or someone is trying to kill the Watchers. I'd certainly prefer it to having to tell the Council that the attacks were aimed at us, so soon after we'd gone through something similar with the First."  
  
"But--" Xander started, and Giles held his hand up, interrupting him.  
  
"I know, Xander, your explanation does indeed make sense, and you raise some very interesting questions. That's why I'm grateful to have you here to help. I wouldn't have thought to check which side of the car had been hit if you hadn't thought of it first." Giles held Xander's gaze steadily, and kept his hand exactly where it was, over Xander's on the table. "On the other hand, we haven't yet finished pouring over York's documents, and there will be more sent later when Bishop is done with the Gi'iz.   
  
"Perhaps the answers are in there. I'd rather not jump to the wrong conclusion--especially one this disconcerting--before we've finished going over everything we have." Giles looked up at the laptop. "Perhaps you could use this thing to see if Dawn's sent me the full report she said she'd send today? She said she'd email Andrew, but I should have access to his account from here. He might have forgotten to mention it when I spoke to him."  
  
Xander looked at their hands on the table, and nodded. He knew he should take his hand away, but Giles' hand was warm, and it felt--nice. "Okay, I can do that."  
  
Giles gave Xander's hand a final squeeze before finally taking his away. There was a long silence when Giles was just looking at him, and Xander felt like he needed to say something, to try to explain what had just happened, even if he didn't really understand it himself.. "Giles--"  
  
"Xander--" Giles began at the same time.  
  
They both laughed nervously, and Giles put a hand on Xander's shoulder again. "Go on."  
  
Xander shook his head and surprised himself by leaning into Giles' touch. "It has absolutely nothing to do with research, so you go first."  
  
"Well, I--" Giles sighed. "Never mind."   
  
"Okay," Xander said, nodding and moving out of Giles' range by standing and going into the kitchen. He came back a moment later with a pack of biscuits, and passed them on to Giles. "Never mind me either. It was stupid anyway." Very much so. Xander was sure 'Hey, I think I kinda like you a lot' wouldn't go over very well. He hadn't been thinking things through at all, and it was a good thing Giles interrupted him and his thoughts of the  _so very not good_ variety. And it was so not the point either. Xander needed to stop thinking about Giles and how warm his hands were and start thinking about research. Research good, Giles' hands bad. Simple, right?  
  
At least, research  _important_ , Giles' hands, not so much. That shut up the voice in the back of his head that was arguing that really, Giles' hands weren't bad at all. Demons attacking people were definitely a lot more important than anything about Giles and whatever Xander had been about to say about how much he liked having Giles' hand on his shoulder.   
  
"Okay," he said, after what he was afraid was an embarrassingly long silence. "How do I get to Andrew's e-mail from here?"  
  
He couldn't help but grin at the blank look Giles gave him. It wasn't often that Xander felt like a technical whiz, but Giles had a huge blind spot when it came to technology. Or maybe just a huge stubborn spot. Either way, it left Xander feeling like a computer genius.   
  
"Er, there should be a file somewhere with the passwords in it," Giles said, just as Xander had poked around and found the file labeled "Andrew's email.txt."   
  
"I am  _so_  siccing Willow on you," Xander said, opening the file and logging into the e-mail account. Junk mail, junk mail, crap from mailing lists Andrew had signed up for, junk mail... mail from Dawn, with an attachment. "Found it," he said, opening the message and downloading the file.   
  
It looked like the research reports Dawn sent him, with the summary up front highlighting all the key information. This time, unfortunately, Xander was pretty sure they were going to have to go into the details; Dawn's summaries focused on things like "how can we kill it?" and "how dangerous is it?" Useful even now, but if they were going to figure out who was right....   
  
Xander really didn't think he was letting the fact that he liked Dawn a lot better than he liked anybody left over from the old Council influence his judgment. It was definitely  _true_ , but Dawn's research fit the facts a lot better, from what Xander could tell. He knew Giles felt the same way; he hadn't had any problems with Dawn's report until York had sent his over.   
  
Still, there was that nagging feeling at the back of his mind; how could  _that many_  of York's books be wrong? He'd never had a problem trusting  _Giles'_ books, back in Sunnydale, and if it was Giles saying that his research disagreed with Dawn's... so maybe it  _was_  just that he didn't like York, and he wasn't as professional as he tried to convince himself he was.   
  
And now he was just thinking in circles, which never did anybody any good. Xander sighed, shaking his head. Maybe he needed to take a break from the research for a few minutes. "Let me guess," he said to Giles. "You're going to want Dawn's report printed out, instead of reading it on the computer." He was already picking up the laptop and detaching the power cable when Giles nodded.   
  
"Let me take this into the office, then," Xander said. "If you hear swearing, and especially if you hear anything breaking... pretend you didn't."   
  
If he'd been back in Africa, he'd have gone for a long walk, or an even longer drive, to clear his head. If they had had more time, he'd have called time for a break--even if it hadn't been that long since they got started--and gone to watch Niki's training, or to check up on some of the girls he'd brought back to England months ago.   
  
But something was attacking either them or the Slayers, and it didn't matter which; they still had to stop it as quickly as they could. So Xander's "break" would be going in and trying to print out copies of Dawn's report for himself and Giles.   
  
Maybe, if it took long enough, he could get his brain back to doing something useful, instead of running in circles, or wishing he'd had the chance to figure out what he was going to say to Giles.   
  


***


	5. Chapter 5

It took Xander half an hour to get the computer hooked up to the printer. And then he had to fight with it, because the sheets of paper kept getting stuck. "Brilliant," he muttered. "Seriously brilliant." He finally managed to get Dawn's document printed, and he was picking it up when he realized he hadn't thought about Giles at all during the whole ordeal. Apparently, he was on the right track.   
  
Until he came back into the dining room, and saw Giles hunched over an open book. Xander just stood there in the doorway for a moment, spellbound. He really had forgotten just how much he liked watching Giles like this, working and researching. He looked so--so  _intense_.  
  
"Giles?" Xander finally said, keeping his voice low so as to not startle Giles too much.  
  
"Yes?" Giles didn't look up.  
  
"I have Dawn's stuff," Xander replied, the spell broken and his legs working again. "Here." He put the pile of papers down on the table within Giles' reach. "I'll be in the office, reading on the computer."  
  
He didn't wait for Giles' nod. He really needed that walk. Three seconds in the same room as Giles, and his mind was back to thinking in circles.  
  
"Focus, Xander, focus," he muttered to himself, sitting down in the front of the computer to read. Hopefully, that would distract him from unwelcome thoughts, and put him back on track.  
  
He started reading.  
  
"Xander?"  
  
Giles' voice startled him, and Xander looked up from the computer, rubbing his tired eyes. He must have been reading for a while. "Hmm?"  
  
Giles was standing close to the desk, Dawn's document in his hands. "We've both been reading for hours now; perhaps we ought to take a break."  
  
"Yeah, you're right," Xander said, sighing. He stretched and looked at the clock. "I should check up on Niki, see how her day went."  
  
"You do that," Giles replied. "Andrew just phoned, and I have to meet him in my office. Something's happened to Bishop."  
  
"Oh." Xander frowned. "What?"  
  
"I didn't really understand what Andrew was telling me, but there seems to have been an attack of some sort on the library in London--nothing to do with our current research, I don't think--and Bishop was hurt." Giles looked worried.  
  
"So I guess you have to go to London, then?"  
  
"I don't know. I'm hoping not."  
  
Xander grabbed his phone and keys, and followed Giles out of the office. "Keep me posted. I have my phone."  
  
"Of course."  
  
Xander didn't go straight to the dorms to find Niki; she was probably still in class, and besides, he needed a few minutes to shake the cobwebs out of his brain before he saw her. He wouldn't be able to pay attention to anything she was saying if he was still worrying about the demon, or Bishop, or even his brain's unbelievable ability to get off-track today when Giles was in the same room.   
  
He headed for the pond where he'd found the girls yesterday; no one else was there, and so Xander was able to amble around the path surrounding it without interruption. He'd gotten used, over the past couple of years, to doing a lot of walking, and somehow, it made it easier for him to think.   
  
Thinking wasn't all that helpful, it turned out. Their research didn't seem to be getting anywhere, not with their sources contradicting one another. And no matter what Giles said,  _if_  they'd been right about the Watchers, not the Slayers, being the demons' targets, there was a chance, at least, that the attack on Bishop was related.   
  
And thinking about how he shouldn't be thinking about Giles boiled down to "thinking about Giles," and that was no help at all.   
  
Sighing, Xander shook his head and went to see if he could find what class Niki was in. He'd sit in the back and watch; it'd give him something else to think about.   
  
  


***

  
  
Giles rubbed his forehead. "Yes, Mr. York, I quite understand, but this is a matter of great importance."  
  
"I don't believe I've said it wasn't."  
  
"Perhaps not in these words, but you've implied that you couldn't care less, and this is a disappointment. Our colleague is comatose; this attack happened in your department, during working hours, and I'm simply wondering where the hell you were." Giles really was trying hard not to sound angry, but it wasn't easy. York was doing his very best to piss him off, and Giles' patience had limits.  
  
"This is none of your affair, Rupert, and you will cease these accusations. I had nothing to do with Mrs. Bishop's attack, and no, I didn't see anything, either. I found her on the floor of the office when I came back from running some errands."  
  
Giles hated the patronizing tone York used on him every time they talked. He'd been a contemporary of Giles' father, and always assumed he had more authority then Giles did. Giles sighed. "If you remember anything, please phone. I've no interest in playing games with you today." He hung up without waiting for York's answer, clinging to what little bit of self-control he had.  
  
"Andrew?" he called, smiling when the young man immediately appeared in the doorway. "Do you have the hospital records that were supposed to be faxed?"  
  
"Yes, right here," Andrew said, handing him a couple of pages. "There's nothing there, and the police are still investigating. You sure you don't want to send a few Slayers out there?"  
  
He should, he truly should, if only to make sure that the threat was truly human in nature, and not demonic--it seemed at first that robbery had been the motive for the attack--but as much as Giles knew this was the course of action to take, he loathed putting any more Slayers in danger.  
  
"I don't want to get in the way of the police investigation," Giles said at last. "There's no evidence that it's anything but a robbery. Afterward, or if something unusual turns up, then I'll send some of the Slayers to make certain everything's all right."   
  
"If you say so," Andrew said, sounding doubtful.   
  
"I do," Giles snapped, then sighed. Andrew didn't have any idea why Giles was so reluctant to send the Slayers into this, and he was right--under normal circumstances, he'd have sent a team there immediately. "Just make certain," he went on, in a calmer tone of voice, "that the police know that I'm the one they should talk to, and not York, if they find anything important."   
  
From the way Andrew's eyes widened, Giles knew he should have found a different way to phrase that. "You don't think that Mr. York had anything to do with--"  
  
"No," Giles said immediately. "But you must admit," he went on, in a confiding tone, "that he tends to overstep his authority." That might have been an unprofessional thing for him to say, but it wasn't anything Andrew didn't already know, after all, and if it kept him from leaping to conclusions, Giles would willingly risk a little unprofessionalism.  
  
It seemed to work well, because a minute later Andrew was back at his own desk, leaving Giles to pour through the reports that kept piling up. He looked at the papers Andrew had just handed him, sighing. Bishop could have died--could still die. She hadn't woken up yet, and the doctors feared it might be a while before she did. The blow to the head she'd taken had been quite powerful; the only thing that had kept her from being killed outright was her hair, which she kept in a bun high on her head.  
  
"Andrew?"  
  
The young man popped his head in again. "Yes, Captain?"  
  
"You haven't received the report on the damage to Gregory's car yet, have you?"  
  
Andrew shook his head. "No," he said, worrying his bottom lip. "I forgot to call back because of what happened to Mrs. Bishop."  
  
"All right. Perhaps you could do that now?" Giles tried not to snap again. He reminded himself that Andrew had no idea what was going on; to him, Bishop's attack would be of more importance than Gregory's. "There's no sense in waiting for more information on Mrs. Bishop, and there might be none for a while. We should keep working until then," he added.  
  
"You're right," Andrew replied, straightening up in the doorway. "What if the police or Mr. York calls while I'm on the phone?"  
  
"I'll pick it up myself. Now go. I need this information before I can close this file." Giles waved Andrew off, and took off his glasses when the boy was out of sight. Rubbing his eyes, he took a moment to breathe. Two problematic situations within a couple of days of each other. He had a hard time believing it was a coincidence, no matter how much he wanted it to be true.  
  
Then he thought of Xander--distracting thoughts indeed--and remembered that he'd asked for news when Giles could give it, so he picked up the phone and dialed.  
  
  
"Yeah?" Xander sounded concerned, and Giles realized he must have seen who was calling before he answered the phone. Of course he was expecting the news to be bad; when had it been anything but, lately? "What did you find out?"  
  
Giles sighed. "Not a lot," he confessed. "Bishop was hurt quite badly, and she hasn't regained consciousness, so we've still no idea who actually attacked her. The police are investigating, of course--"  
  
"They won't know what to look for."  
  
"The motive could have been simple burglary."  
  
"Since when," Xander said, sounding tired, "has anything been simple?" Giles realized that Xander sounded a great deal like him, right down to the weariness in his voice, and wondered why he hadn't noticed that earlier. "Shouldn't we send somebody?"  
  
"Perhaps," Giles said, sighing, "but I'm reluctant to send anyone away." He probably should have kept Gregory from leaving for Asia the day before as well, but he hadn't thought Watchers were in any danger then. Now with the research they'd done, and Bishop in the hospital... Giles rubbed his forehead and leaned against his desk.  
  
"Yeah, I understand what you mean," Xander replied.  
  
"I knew you would. Are you with Nkiruka right now?"  
  
"No, she's still in class, so I was just walking around. I was thinking of sitting in her class until she was done, but I don't think they're going to let me."  
  
Giles smiled slightly at that. "Probably not, I'm afraid."  
  
"Captain!"  
  
Giles looked up. "Hold on, Xander. Yes, Andrew?" he asked, a hand on the receiver.  
  
"The shop's sending me the report on the damage. Should be faxed now. Just thought you'd want to know." Andrew was smiling, almost bouncing in the doorway. "I'll bring it over as soon as it's done printing."  
  
"Thank you, Andrew," Giles said, with a grateful smile. "Xander, I--"  
  
"I heard. Call me when--"  
  
"Of course I will."  
  
"This could make or break the case."  
  
Giles quirked his eyebrows. "I'm not sure I follow..."  
  
"I just meant that this could be our answer to the age old question, 'Who's right?' And have I mentioned that I really, really hope it's Dawn?"  
  
"Yes, you might have, at some point, but I'm afraid no matter which way the report goes, York might still be right."  
  
"Whatever, that guy just isn't--right."  
  
"Just because we--I mean, you don't like him, doesn't mean he isn't a good Watcher and a good researcher."  
  
"Maybe not, but it can still mean that I have a bad feeling about him, and--well, sometimes I'm wrong, but sometimes I'm also right."  
  
"True," Giles conceded, standing up from his desk. "I'll call you back very soon."  
  
"Okay, no problem. You do your stuff. I think the girls are coming out of class now anyway."  
  
Xander broke the connection before Giles could even say goodbye, and Giles hung up the phone, sighing. Xander was letting his personal dislike of York cloud his judgment, but Giles couldn't afford to make decisions based on hunches and "bad feelings." Still, perhaps the report on the damage to Gregory's car would shed some light on the matter.   
  
For once, Andrew couldn't have had better timing; he reappeared in Giles' doorway, carrying a sheaf of papers, just as Giles put down the phone. "The report," he said, handing the papers over with a crisp salute.   
  
Giles sighed. It wasn't that Andrew wasn't a capable assistant--he'd turned out to be quite good at keeping Giles' office running smoothly--it was that Giles was never quite certain what to expect. "Andrew," he began, wearily.   
  
"Yes, Captain?"   
  
"The salute," Giles said, pausing for a moment to try to find a tactful way to phrase his objections.   
  
"Too much?"   
  
"No. 'Captain' is too much. The salute goes beyond that." Giles tucked the papers under his arm. "I'll be in my study," he said. "Unless it's Xander, or news from the hospital about Mrs. Bishop, I don't want to be disturbed."   
  
"All right, Cap--Mr. Giles," Andrew replied, looking slightly dejected.  
  
Giles sighed and shook his head. He was going to say something else, but Andrew was already back at his desk, and Giles wasn't sure what he could say anyway. He didn't look at the report yet; he made himself some tea, settled down in his favorite chair, and sipped quietly for a few minutes, the document down on the side table. He wasn't sure what he wanted the results to be. He wasn't sure the results would be all that definite either way. They wouldn't give them the answer, no matter what Xander might think. It wouldn't be that simple.  
  
It never was.  
  
With a sigh, Giles put down his cup, picked up the first sheet of paper, and started reading. The first part was just the usual estimate of how much the damage would cost to repair. Giles skipped lower to the details, and groaned.  
  
The left side of the car was untouched. Only a short scratch mark that had probably been made by Julia's weapon. The right side, however...  
  
It was a miracle Gregory had gotten out of there alive, and without much more than a couple of cuts and bruises. It did seem as though the Watcher had been the primary target. But whether it meant the demon had orders, or was intelligent enough to know on its own that the Watcher had to be taken out first to get to the Slayer, or if Gregory had been the only target--that was still a mystery that Giles was afraid would not get answered.  
  
"This is one piece of this puzzle, but where does it fit?" he asked himself. He put down the document again and reached for his cup, staring into space. He was afraid they wouldn't get the answer before tragedy struck again. Perhaps he ought to let the Watchers in the field know, ask them to be careful and vigilant for the Slayers' sake and their own.  
  
He picked up the phone and phoned Xander again. After he'd told him of the report, he was surprised when Xander didn't jump to conclusions, and instead waited for Giles to continue. "I'm simply not sure it is worth risking the ensuing panic."  
  
"Yeah, it would be crazy. Maybe we just need a couple more days to figure it out," Xander mused. "But if we're still not sure by Friday morning, we'll go to plan B."  
  
"I'd still like to warn Gregory, as he's been a target before," Giles said, nodding and still a little surprised at the degree of good sense Xander was showing.   
  
"Maybe a good idea, but I'd wait till tomorrow morning. I think Andrew said something about Gregory being out of cell phone range until then." Xander said something away from the receiver. "Sorry, Niki's getting antsy. I think she wants me to watch her train. I'll see you at home in an hour?"  
  
Giles smiled slightly. "Of course, I'll find us something to eat."  
  
"Sounds good!" Xander hung up again without saying goodbye, and Giles shook his head fondly. It was rather nice to have Xander in England, despite the circumstances. Giles had missed his company more than he'd known.  
  
With a smile on his face, Giles picked up the papers, and another book from the shelves, and went into the kitchen. He didn't know why, but he felt the urge to impress Xander tonight. He rummaged through the cupboards, and settled to cook, his worries pushed to the back of his mind for now.  
  
Andrew stuck his head in the door after a while to tell Giles he was going home for the day; Giles looked up from chopping and stirring to ask him about Gregory's travel plans.   
  
"I think he'll be reachable tomorrow," Andrew confirmed. "I'll check his itinerary before I leave, if you want, Cap--Mr. Giles?"  
  
Giles sighed. "I can tolerate 'Captain,'" he said, "provided that you don't salute."  
  
"No salute, check," Andrew said. "Do you want me to get you a printout of Mr. Gregory's entire itinerary?"   
  
"No, thank you." He'd been the one to insist that Andrew go home at a reasonable hour except in crisis situations; Andrew might still live on the grounds, but Giles had found that otherwise, it was impossible for him to get any peace and quiet. "The morning will do for that, as long as you're certain I won't be able to reach him before then."  
  
"Not if he's on schedule, and I know his flight landed on time." Giles lifted the lid on a pot, and as though dragged into the room by the smell of cooking, Andrew stepped all the way into the kitchen. "You know, Mrs. Walters from the village is still willing to come in and cook any time you need her to. I saw her the other day, and she said--"  
  
"I don't need Mrs. Walters to come in and cook," Giles said. She'd come in a time or two before, when Giles had been entertaining some of the senior members of the Council, but this was hardly a formal business dinner. "I can certainly prepare dinner for Xander and myself without outside assistance."   
  
"Oh," Andrew said, then his eyes grew wider. " _Oh_! Okay, I'll--" He waved at the doorway. "I'll be on my way then." He grinned at Giles and turned around. "Have a nice, um, a nice evening."  
  
Giles wouldn't ask why Andrew waggled his eyebrows at that; Andrew was full of bizarre quirks. When he was sure Andrew had finally gone, he sighed, relieved, and continued cooking. Everything else could wait until the morning--providing nobody else was attacked during the evening.  
  
Oh, dear God, please let there be no more attacks. Giles wanted to enjoy a quiet evening for once. Perhaps there would be more reading later, but for now, he was quite content to cook and hope Xander would appreciate his culinary skills.  
  
He even found himself humming as he moved about the kitchen, checking on the pots, and setting the table for two.  
  
He was almost done when he heard the front door opening and closing with a bit more force than he was used to hearing. "Xander?" Giles asked, walking into the hallway.  
  
"Yeah," Xander said, smiling and taking off his jacket. "Smells really good."  
  
"Yes it does," Giles agreed. The smell had been teasing him for a while now, and he was starving. "It's almost ready."  
  
"Great, I could eat a horse." Xander passed by Giles and walked into the dining room.  
  
"As a matter of fact--" Giles started, trying to sound as serious as he could.  
  
"We're not eating horse meat, are we?" Xander turned to Giles, concerned.  
  
Giles couldn't help but laugh. "No, we aren't."  
  
"Seriously, I know you have some weird food here. Andrew's been threatening me with something involving toads." He paused. "It's not toads either, right?"   
  
"Just settle down, and I'll bring the food in. It shouldn't be too long."  
  
"Let me help you." Xander followed Giles into the kitchen. "Wow," he said when he saw the pots and the plates. "You really went all out, didn't you?"  
  
"Oh," Giles said, stuttering slightly. "I'm--I've--I don't often have the--the chance to cook for anyone but myself these days." He shrugged.  
  
For some reason, Xander's grin dimmed slightly, though it didn't fade. "Well, feel free to take advantage of having me here to practice, then," he said. "If you cook it, I'll eat it." Then the grin returned in full force. "Unless it's horse meat."  
  
"I promise that I won't try to feed you anything that whinnies," Giles said, and Xander nodded.   
  
"Then you can cook like this any time you want. That is, if we're not eating the leftovers from tonight until I go back to Africa." Xander peered over Giles' shoulder at the contents of the pot he was stirring. "What can I do to help?"  
  
"Go and sit down," Giles said, reaching for a plate. "I'll be out in a minute." Xander disappeared into the dining room, and Giles began to serve up the food. He hadn't had either the time or the supplies to do anything too elaborate, and he hadn't been certain how well Xander would appreciate that, regardless. But he supposed that since Xander had been eating his own cooking, or in whatever restaurants were available in the towns he visited, for months, the roast chicken, potatoes, and vegetables he'd prepared would go over well enough.   
  
He hoped.   
  
He carried the plates out to the dining room to find that Xander, rather than sitting down, was standing at the window, looking out. Giles set the plates down on the table; when Xander didn't seem to have noticed he'd come in, he went over to stand next to him. "We can worry about it after dinner," Giles said. "Let's just enjoy the meal, and then we can get back to work afterward."   
  
Xander turned to look at him, shrugging slightly. "Yeah. I guess you're right."   
  
Giles smiled at Xander. "We'll figure it out, Xander; this is what we do, and we wouldn't be here today if we weren't good at it. Sometimes, we need a bit of a break when there seems to be a dead end."  
  
"Yeah, I know," Xander said. "So, what's for supper?"  
  
Giles sat down, and picked up his fork. "Chicken. I didn't have time to do any shopping."  
  
"Hey, no worries, chicken is great. Chicken is much better than horse meat."  
  
"I'll take that as a compliment," Giles said dryly as they began to eat.   
  
They managed to keep conversation relatively light throughout the meal; it only took the slightest encouragement for Xander to start telling him about Nkiruka and the other girls he'd brought back with him, and how they were settling into their new environment. He'd had a chance to check up on how some of the other Slayers he'd brought back to England in the past were doing, as well, and so they had plenty to talk about as they ate.   
  
Xander helped him clear the table, and they did the washing-up in companionable silence. It wasn’t until he'd put some water on for tea that he brought up the demons. "Do you want to take a look at the report on Gregory's car?" he offered. "You might see something I've missed."   
  
"Okay, I'll take a look." Xander settled down at the table, and Giles handed him the report.  
  
"I'll go over Dawn's notes while you do that."  
  
"No matter how many times we read them, they'll still say the same thing, you know?" Xander asked, hunched over the papers in his hands.  
  
"I do know, but there might be some details we've missed," Giles replied.  
  
"At this point? The only thing that might make a difference is if we caught one of the demons alive. Or if we got Bishop's gizmo translation."   
  
"Gizmo?" Giles frowned. "Oh! You mean the Gi'iz?"  
  
"Yeah, that. I guess we won't get anything now, since she's--Oh, God."  
  
"What?"  
  
"What if--never mind, it's crazy." Xander dismissed it and went back to reading the report.  
  
"No, please, do tell," Giles said. He put the cordless phone on the table with the books, and sat down.  
  
Xander shook his head. "No, really, it's crazy. Maybe we should call York, see if he knows where Bishop put her notes."  
  
"You think her translation might be the reason she's in the hospital?" Giles asked.  
  
"Do you?"  
  
Giles stared at him for a moment. The thought had crossed his mind. "Next thing we know, we'll start suspecting York of treason," he said, sighing. "This is ridiculous." He took his head in his hands and groaned. "I'll set up a patrol on school grounds tomorrow. Groups of three or four, no less. Perhaps we can get our hands on this demon."  
  
"Maybe," Xander replied, slumping down slightly on his chair, his eye having the faraway look of someone who was thinking hard. "Maybe we should have three Slayers, one kiddo Watcher, on the patrols. Tell them it's just a change to the normal patrolling practice or something. They'll be less suspicious that way."  
  
"That sounds reasonable. I'll have Andrew on it in the morning; Mrs. Cheever can divide them up. In the meantime, you read that report, and I'll give York a call about Bishop's notes." Giles stood, cordless in hand, and went to look for his phone book. "I should have his home number, I believe."  
  
Xander settled into reading, and Giles flipped through the pages of his phone book until he found York's home telephone number. He spent a few moments exchanging pleasantries with Mrs. York--she didn't mention Bishop, but that didn't surprise Giles all that much; many of the older Watchers refused to discuss any of the details of their work with their families. His own father hadn't talked about Council business in any but the broadest terms, even though his mother had been fully aware of the nature of his work.   
  
Finally, York came to the phone, his voice sounding thin and impatient. "I hope this is important, Mr. Giles. One of the few perks of being in the research department is the  _lack_  of late-night telephone calls."   
  
Giles didn't try to hide his own annoyance. "I'm terribly sorry to disturb you," he said, knowing the insincerity came through. "I was simply wondering if you knew what had happened to Mrs. Bishop's research notes."   
  
"Notes?" he repeated, sounding genuinely perplexed for a moment.   
  
"The Gi'iz translation she was working on before the attack," Giles said. "I know she hadn't finished, but I'd like to see whatever she had managed to get done."   
  
There was a long silence at the other end of the line; then York snapped, "You are absolutely  _unbelievable_."  
  
"I beg your pardon?" Giles said.   
  
"You heard me, young man. Considering the condition that hooligan left her in, you  _should_  be concerned about  _her_  and not her notes. That woman has put in thirty years of service to the Council-- _faithful_ , dedicated service, unlike some people--and if all you're concerned about is the translation--"  
  
"Mr. York!" Giles interrupted sharply. "I could remind you that you  _are_  talking to the head of the Council." At that, Xander's head came up, his attention drawn away from his reading, and Giles gave him an apologetic smile.   
  
"Yes, sir," York said. "I haven't forgotten that. My point remains. Your concern ought to be about Mrs. Bishop, and not the translation she was doing for some pet project of yours."  
  
"Not that this is any of your concern, but I am perfectly aware of Mrs. Bishop's condition, and receive reports whenever it changes. My concern, as you say, is with her, although despite what you seem to believe, the world did not stop turning the moment she was admitted to the hospital," Giles snarled. "It is, in fact, still turning, and I need those notes. It might be a  _pet project_ , but it is one that cannot wait until Mrs. Bishop has regained consciousness. I need you to find me those notes and fax them to me as soon as humanly possible, is that clear?"  
  
"Very well,  _sir_ ," York replied icily, emphasizing the 'sir'. "I will fax what I can find in the morning, and not one moment before. Until then, good night, Mr. Giles."  
  
"Mr. York!" Giles growled, but it was already too late. Giles cursed, throwing the phone back on the table and pinching the bridge of his nose.  
  
"Fire him."  
  
Giles looked up at Xander. "Huh?"  
  
"Fire him. He's been a giant pain in the ass since you gave him that job. He deserves it," Xander said, matter-of-factly, although he had a worried look in his eyes. "Seriously, Giles, you have the power. Use it."  
  
"I wish I could," Giles sighed, sitting down on the chair closest to Xander. "Unfortunately, if I fire him, I'll have a small mutiny on my hands."  
  
Xander looked pensive for a moment, then glanced at the report he was still holding. "Who says that's not exactly what we're dealing with? The old gang's revolting because they can't deal with the way things are run now. Andrew said something to me the other day about some Watchers not being happy that you're in charge. I'm pretty sure York's one of them."  
  
"And you think York would lead them to mutiny?" Giles asked; he wouldn't admit to it now, but the idea of this being an inside job had crossed his mind more than once over the past few days.  
  
"Not York," Xander replied, shaking his head. "If there's anything, and he's involved in it, he's just a follower. This is very conspiracy theorist of me, but I'm starting to think it's our best answer."  
  
"I'm still not sure we aren't dealing with an outside source. The Council has many enemies, and some might think to strike now while we're still recovering." Even as he talked, Giles knew he didn't really believe it.  
  
"God," Xander groaned, leaning against the back of his chair, and stared at the ceiling. "I'm so tired of running around in circles." He waved the report in the air. "This is clearly saying 'kill the Watcher', just like my car said, but I keep thinking that it's too obvious to be true, you know. And you have a counter argument for everything I say."  
  
Giles smiled and shook his head slightly. "I must admit that I'm liking your theory more than my counter arguments. But they need to be voiced, simply so that we're prepared for any eventuality."  
  
"Yeah, I know," Xander said, smiling back, then he sighed. "All right, so to sum up, we're at a dead end until we get, A, Bishop's notes, B, the patrols up, or C, and please let that not be the option that actually happens first, another attack happens that answers all our questions."  
  
"Yes, more or less. I'll be contacting Gregory in the morning to urge him to caution. Perhaps I should contact all the Watchers in the field as well, at this point."  
  
"I thought we'd gone over that already." Xander straightened up. "Telling everyone's going to end up causing panic, and, you know that conspiracy theorist in me? Says you're going to alert 'them' that we know what they're up to. I don't think we want to do that before we can actually catch them."  
  
"You're right," Giles said. He laid a hand on Xander's shoulder and squeezed. "Perhaps I should check up on my tea, shouldn't I?"  
  
"Yeah, maybe," Xander said. He set the papers aside, sighing. "And I might as well stop trying to find the answers in this. We're not going to get anywhere tonight."   
  
Giles' hand was still on Xander's shoulder; he squeezed it again now, trying to seem reassuring. "We'll get to the bottom of this," Giles said. "Not tonight, perhaps, but very soon. We'll have Bishop's notes tomorrow, the Slayers will begin patrolling, and I'll be able to warn Gregory to be on his guard."   
  
"You should probably fill Gregory in on the whole situation," Xander said. "He'll be more help than I will."   
  
Giles shook his head. "I need someone I can trust implicitly," he said. "I trust Gregory, mind you, but not to the same extent that I trust you."   
  
Xander looked up at him, brow furrowed slightly in thought. Realizing that he'd just potentially steered the conversation into distracting waters, Giles let go of Xander's shoulder and went to get his tea.   
  
Xander was still asleep the next morning when Giles went into his office. Andrew arrived a few minutes later, coffee and scones in hand, just as Giles was about to call Gregory.  
  
"Hey, Captain," Andrew said, dropping a scone on Giles' desk. "Figured you'd be here early, and forgot to eat again."  
  
He was smiling a bit too widely for what passed as normal Andrew behavior, and it made Giles frown. "What has you so cheerful this morning?"  
  
"Oh!" Andrew's smile widened, if that was even possible. "Nothing."  
  
"Well, then," Giles said, picking up the scone. He was starving. "I'll need you to call Mrs. Cheever. I need to speak to her before lunch time. Ask her to stop by my office? I'll also need your help for a little project I've thought of."  
  
"Okay! Anything I can do to help!"  
  
Giles smiled at Andrew's retreating back and picked up the phone. He had no idea what he would tell Gregory once he had him on the other end of the line. "Be careful," seemed pointless. "Hello, Gregory," he said when the other man picked up. "I trust your journey is going well?"  
  
"Not particularly."  
  
No Slayers anywhere remotely close to where Gregory was searching. It was not uncommon to receive reports of Slayer activity when there was none, but it was the first time it had happened to Gregory, and Giles could very well understand the disappointment in the man's voice. The rest of the phone call was brief; Giles urged the young Watcher to be cautious on his return trip and hung up.  
  
He finished his scone and went out into Andrew's office. "Oh, hello, Mrs. Garner," he said when he noticed Andrew wasn't alone.  
  
"Mr. Giles, a pleasure to see you today," the woman answered. "I was picking up the schedules for the new arrivals. Five in one day?"  
  
There was a rumor at the school that she only had two facial expressions: scolding or indifferent. Not that Giles would know anything about such rumors, of course, the headmaster never did. "I'm certain you'll have no problems with our African contingent," Giles said. "For the Asian, I'm afraid, we might have a bit of a language barrier."  
  
"Yes, that's what Andrew was telling me just now," Mrs. Garner said. "I've some grasp of Bangali, so I might be of some use to one of them, but I'm afraid I know nothing of the other girl's language."  
  
"We'll find them both a tutor shortly, I'm sure." Giles shot a look at Andrew, who shrugged apologetically. "Andrew, Gregory has had no luck on his trip and asks that we find him a flight home as soon as possible. Apparently, the natives are slightly hostile to his presence. Can you find a flight for him, and send along the information?"  
  
"Of course, Mr. Giles, I'll do that immediately," Andrew said. Giles was thankful that the boy at least remembered to use the proper title when there were other Watchers in the room. He was pretty sure that being called "Captain" would do no good to his authority. "I called Mrs. Cheever; she's going to be here any minute."  
  
"All right. When she arrives, come along with her to my office, will you?" When Andrew nodded, Giles turned to the teachers. "Have a good day, Mrs. Garner."  
  
"To you too, Mr. Giles," the woman answered, barely looking up from the schedules in her hands.  
  
Giles nodded at Andrew, and went back into his office to wait for Mrs. Cheever. He would present the idea of the expanded patrols as a variation in the students' training, just as Xander had suggested, and hopefully, with her help and Andrew's, they could start as soon as that evening. The sooner, the better.  
  


***


	6. Chapter 6

Xander had wound up oversleeping; it had taken him a while to fall asleep last night, too preoccupied with going over and over the situation in his mind, and he'd been so tired when he finally did drift off that it was mid-morning by the time he woke up.   
  
Giles was already in his office when Xander got downstairs; the door was closed, so Xander went into the kitchen to make himself some coffee before wandering over to bother Andrew. Since Andrew usually kept his office door open, Xander would be able to see across the hall and would know when Giles' meeting was over.   
  
Andrew wasn't there either, but there was a bakery bag on his desk and a half-eaten scone on a napkin next to it. Okay, if he took the last scone from the bag, he wouldn't be stealing  _all_  of Andrew's breakfast, and it was already almost lunchtime. Xander would offer to buy him lunch.   
  
He opened the bag and took out the scone, sitting down in Andrew's chair to eat breakfast and wait for him.   
  
He'd just finished the last bite when he heard the fax machine start printing something out. Xander thought he'd be helpful--it was the least he could do, he thought, for swiping Andrew's food--and turned around to pull the papers off the machine, intending to paper-clip them together and leave them on Andrew's desk for him.   
  
The fax was for Giles, though, and it was from York at the London office. It had to be the translation Bishop had been working on, Xander thought. If it turned out it was something else, he'd just put the cover sheet back on top and leave it alone, but if it was, then Giles would be okay with him reading it first.   
  
Xander settled back, propping his feet on Andrew's desk as he began to read.   
  
He was still reading, shaking his head at every few words, when he heard voices, and then Giles' door opened. Xander put his feet down and looked up to see Mrs. Cheever coming out.  
  
"I do think this is a very good idea, Mr. Giles. We can't let the patrols become too routine, or they won't take them seriously," Mrs. Cheever said. "And with Mr. Wells' help, I'm sure we'll get this underway by the end of the day."  
  
Andrew followed her out, and then Giles appeared in the doorway. "Of course, Mrs. Cheever, you may have all the use of my assistant that you require."  
  
Xander rolled his eyes, but didn't say a word. It was obvious to him that Giles' eagerness to have Andrew help Mrs. Cheever was a bit--or a lot--due to wanting him away from the office for a while. Considering the situation, Xander didn't blame Giles at all.  
  
"Let me just grab some stuff, and I'll follow you to the dorms, ma'am. We can get the schedule and the groups done from there," Andrew said. He walked into the office and stopped. "Oh! Hi, Xander!"  
  
"Hey," Xander replied, smiling. "Don't let me keep you from doing your stuff. I heard you're helping Mrs. Cheever for something." He held the fax document on his lap, the text hidden from view.  
  
"Yes, it's really interesting, Mr. Giles came up with the idea--"  
  
"Andrew, you shouldn't keep Mrs. Cheever waiting," Giles interrupted him. "I'll fill Xander in."  
  
"Sure thing!" Andrew grabbed his bag and took a final bite of his scone, and walked out, following Mrs. Cheever. He waved at them from the hallway with a really weird smile on his face.  
  
"Why is he looking at us like that?" Xander asked, after they'd disappeared from view.  
  
"I have no idea." Giles motioned for Xander to follow him into his office and closed the door behind them. "He's been acting rather strangely this morning."  
  
"Huh. Well, he  _is_  Andrew." Xander slumped down on a chair facing Giles' desk and put the fax in front of Giles. "This was faxed while you were in here. I started reading it."  
  
"Bishop's notes?" Giles said, picking it up and starting to look through it.   
  
"Yeah," Xander said. He leaned back in the chair, giving Giles a minute to read. Maybe Giles would see something he hadn't. Giles was better at deciphering things like that, after all; he'd had years more practice than Xander had.   
  
Giles was frowning down at the paper, though, and that didn't give Xander a lot of hope that Giles had found anything different in the report.   
  
"According to this," Giles said at last, looking up again, "the demons are hostile, nomadic, spread widely throughout... well, the world was a great deal smaller, in most people's minds, when this text was written, but through Europe, northern Africa, and parts of Asia, at the very least. They have the intelligence of a dog, at best, though in their native habitat--"  
  
"In other words," Xander concluded, "the same stuff York's report said."  
  
"Precisely. I think we're going to have to treat this as an attack on the Slayers." Giles set the report down, rubbing the back of his neck. "We know many demons have an instinctive awareness of the Slayer. If they're a nomadic species, they're likely to be widely-spread, and it's just possible that they have some rudimentary forms of communication. If certain groups of these demons have felt threatened by the presence of a Slayer...."   
  
"You can't be serious," Xander argued. "That many attacks in a short time? How is that coincidence?"  
  
"There have never been so many Slayers before," Giles pointed out. "It's possible that it's disturbed the balance; the presence of so  _many_  Slayers may have agitated the demons, making them more than normally aggressive."  
  
"Or Dawn's book is right, and York's are wrong."  
  
Giles shook his head. "When a dozen texts contradict one, it's far more likely that the single book is the one that's wrong. Or, if not wrong, simply describing a similar-looking demon that isn't responsible for the attacks."   
  
"Unless York's lying," Xander pointed out. "We haven't seen the books; all we've seen is his reports." He knew Giles thought he was just being overly defensive of Dawn, but that wasn't it at all. Something just wasn't right about this--the pattern of the attacks, the way the demons ran away when confronted by Slayers--and it went way beyond the fact that he liked Dawn better than York.   
  
"Do you want me to request that he sends the books, then?" Giles asked, a little abruptly. "Perhaps that would settle it?"  
  
"Yes!" Xander said, vehemently. "At least Dawn has copies of the actual book."   
  
"Bloody hell, Xander," Giles groaned. He grabbed Xander's arm to stop him from pacing and faced him. "I hear your arguments; I'm not diminishing their importance, but this--" he waved the fax papers-- "clearly agrees with York. Unless you believe that Bishop was also in on this conspiracy?"  
  
"They work together. It's not too hard to jump to the conclusion that they would, you know, be in that together too!" Xander kept arguing, his voice rising with every word. "And what if York rewrote her notes? Have you thought about that? He had all night to cover up his tracks."  
  
"Xander--"  
  
"And, and, it just makes sense, York had Bishop attacked to cover up his tracks, spent all night creating a bunch of notes, and sending them to you, thinking you're going to be fooled, and--"  
  
"Xander, shut up!" Giles pulled Xander closer, holding on to both his arms. Xander stopped talking suddenly, and they both looked at each other, unmoving. Then Giles tilted his head and pressed his lips to Xander's.  
  
For a second, the only thing Xander could do was stand there frozen, unable to even process what was going on. Then instinct kicked in, and he kissed back, licking at Giles' lips until they parted for him, Xander hearing himself groan as his tongue slid against Giles'.   
  
And then, belatedly, his brain started to work. Giles had just told him to shut up. Giles wasn't even  _listening_  to him, and what was he doing  _kissing_ Xander? He didn't even dare to ask himself what he'd been doing kissing back. What he'd been doing liking it, a lot, before he'd stopped to think.   
  
Xander pulled out of Giles' grip, backing away. "What the hell was that?" he demanded.  
  
Giles blinked at him for a moment, his lips still parted, reddened and wet from the kiss, and for a second, Xander wished he hadn't pulled away. "I--Xander, I'm so sorry," Giles began, and Xander stopped regretting it.   
  
"Yeah," Xander said. "I know." He didn't want to hear Giles' explanation, and right now, he didn't think he could even stay in the same room as Giles. He needed to think, and he was pretty sure he couldn't do that with Giles right here.   
  
And first, he needed some time when he didn't think, at all, until his heart stopped pounding and he stopped remembering how it had felt to have Giles' mouth against his, and he  _knew_  he wouldn't get that with Giles around.   
  
"Looks like you've got everything covered," Xander said, "so I'm going to go check up on Niki." He paused. "I'm turning my phone off. If something else happens, send Andrew."   
  
"Xander--"  
  
He wasn't listening. He wasn't turning back and waiting for Giles' explanation. He walked out of the house, and headed straight for the dorms. Chances were that's where the girls would be right now.  
  
Everyone was gathered together just outside of the girls' building. Mrs. Cheever and Andrew were talking, organizing the groups for the patrols. Xander decided to wait, and sat down on the steps. He was joined really quickly by Niki, who was soon followed by Catherine and Océane. "You girls should be listening."  
  
Catherine shook her head.  
  
"They said we can't be on the patrols yet," Niki said, sitting down close to Xander's knees. "Mrs. Cheever said we haven't trained enough already, and we have to wait a little. I don't want to wait. Do I really have to?"  
  
"She has a point, Niki," Xander said softly, touching her head. "You only got here two days ago. Give yourselves more time." He could see though that neither of the older girls were happy with this. Océane looked wistful, and Catherine downright angry.  
  
"It's not fair," Catherine said.  
  
"I'm not arguing whether it's fair or not, but this isn't a game, Catherine."  
  
Océane looked at him. "Are you good? You look--" She frowned and pointed at his face. "If you saw a--phantom? Oh, a ghost."  
  
"Did you see a ghost?" Niki asked, eyes wide. "Ghosts are real?"  
  
Xander shook his head. "I'm not sure they're real, although they probably are, but I haven't seen one today. You girls wanna take a walk to the pond?" He was probably going to get hell for what he was about to do, but he wanted them to be careful. The only way that they would really understand how important that was, was if he told them.  
  
And at least, while he was with them, he wasn't thinking about Giles.  
  
"We should probably--" Catherine began, but Niki was already dashing down the path, and she changed her mind. "We might as well," she agreed.   
  
Xander called for Niki to wait up; she stopped, turning around with her hands on her hips as she waited impatiently for them, and Xander and the others hurried to catch up to her.   
  
He didn't say anything until they got to the pond; the two older girls sat down in the grass. Xander was about to sit down with them when he realized that Niki had found a stick on the ground and was poking it into the shallow water and reeds at the edge of the pond. "Hey, Niki? Come over here for a minute," Xander called. "I need to talk to you guys."  
  
"There's a frog," Niki argued. "I want it to come out where I can see it better."   
  
"Yeah, well, you can do that in a minute. The frog's not going anywhere," Xander said, and hoped it didn't, or he'd probably find himself wading out into the middle of the pond to look for it.   
  
"He might," she said, but she came over to the others anyway, flopping down on the grass between Catherine and Océane and looking up at him.   
  
Xander tried a smile, but failed, so he settled for a sigh. "There's a reason we're setting up those patrols, and it's not just a game. Mrs. Cheever and Andrew don't know this, so you have to keep quiet about it, okay?" All three girls nodded, and Xander continued. "The demon we fought when we got here--"  
  
"It's back?" Niki asked, wide eyed. "I can fight it, this time. I know I can."  
  
"No, Niki, you can't." Xander looked into her eyes. "I don't want you anywhere near that demon. Is that clear?"  
  
"But--"  
  
"We won't let her," Catherine said, looking at Océane, who nodded.  
  
"That's what I was hoping to hear. I know you both wish you could be on the patrols," Xander said to the two eldest. "And you probably could, because you've been training for a while now with your Watcher, but this is a much more important mission."  
  
Océane smiled and ruffled Niki's hair. "We will not let her out of our eyes."  
  
"Sight," Catherine whispered. "It's out of our sight."  
  
"Mmm," Océane said. "All right, I will remember. We will not let her out of our sight. Yes, it sounds better."  
  
Xander shook his head and smiled. "Well now that that's out of the way--"  
  
"But why?" Niki said, looking at Xander and bouncing slightly. "I'm strong and I saved my family. I can do that again."  
  
"I know you're strong, Niki," Xander said softly. "And what you did for your family was heroic, but this is different. There are a lot of older, better trained Slayers here, and you should let them handle it. Please?"  
  
Niki frowned at him. "The other Slayers are taking care of the demons, and  _they're_  taking care of me even though I'm not a baby. What am  _I_  taking care of?"  
  
Xander paused for a moment, thinking as quickly as he could. The last thing he needed was for Niki to decide she ought to go charging off to fight one of the demons by herself. "I was wrong, Niki," he said. "I want all three of you to look after each other, all right? The other Slayers have been here longer than you have, and even though Catherine and Ocean have been working with their Watcher, they haven't been trained  _here_. So the three of you need to keep each other safe."   
  
Catherine picked up on what he was doing quickly. "Nkiruka, I will be counting on you to watch my back, all right?" Xander made a mental note that he owed her, big time. "And so will Océane, won't you?" Catherine nudged Océane with her foot, and the other girl nodded quickly.   
  
Niki's frown lightened a little bit. "And I'm not too little?"  
  
"No," Xander said firmly. "I promise."  
  
She was silent for a moment, thinking, and then she said, "Then okay."   
  
"That's my girl." Xander pinched her nose, smiling when she shied away from him.  
  
"Can I go back to watching that frog now?" Niki asked impatiently, barely even waiting for Xander to nod before she was on her feet and back to poking the water with her stick.  
  
He stayed with them for the rest of the day, almost completely forgetting what had happened with Giles. The girls did a good job of distracting him from his no-good thoughts. When Niki was done watching the frog do its froggy-thing, she came back to sit with Xander and told him absolutely  _all_  about being in slayer school. Every detail of every moment of her first two days, even the bits she'd already told him about. She was so enthusiastic about it, bringing both Océane and Catherine into the conversation whenever she could, that instead of being bored out of his mind, Xander found himself laughing and smiling with her.  
  
After a while, another group of students came to sit by the pond, and Xander and the girls started walking around until dinnertime. Niki demanded that Xander eat with them. Xander's first thought was to wonder what Giles was cooking, but then he dismissed it immediately. He didn't want to face Giles, not now, and possibly not ever. The fact that they were, basically, roommates was not going to help at all, but Xander could still hope to avoid him as much as possible for now. Except for the part where they had to actually work together.  
  
Giles would be fine on his own. He had other Watchers working for him, and York, and--he didn't need Xander.  
  
So it was actually an easy decision; Xander followed the girls to the cafeteria.  
  
Their food was way better than usual cafeteria food. Xander couldn't help but compare it to the food at Sunnydale High, because this was good. Not as good as--  
  
Not going there. Xander reminded himself to keep his thoughts away from Giles. Catherine had started giving him weird looks whenever he went there, which meant the confusion he felt was showing on his face, and that was not good. The last thing he needed was for the girls to think something was wrong--besides the demon thing, which they'd all kept quiet about all afternoon, although Xander knew it was on their mind--and actually ask about it.  
  
He could probably chalk it up to demon invasion, but that would require details, and there were just so much lies he could make up. Finally, it was time for the girls to go back to the dorms, and he had to go back home.  
  
Weird concept that one… "home." He kept thinking that he never really knew where home was anymore, but he always referred to Giles' house as home. Weird. And possibly a problem, the way things were going.  
  
He climbed the steps to the front door and walked in, grateful that Giles had left it unlocked yet again.  
  
Xander was hoping to be able to just walk straight to his room, but a light cough from the study as he passed by made him stop.  
  
"How was your afternoon?" Giles asked when Xander peeked in.  
  
"Good, good," Xander said, although he wouldn't actually go into the room. "The girls are really enjoying the whole training thing. I got all the details from Niki. Catherine and Ocean are kinda bummed that they can't be on the patrols, but I got them to agree to watch Niki's back, so I guess that evens things out."  
  
"I just thought--"  
  
"Oh, I know. I'm not saying it's not a good idea. I wouldn't want Niki on patrol trying to look for it herself, but still, bummed. Girls who can fight have that thing where they always  _want_  to fight." The more Xander babbled, the less he thought about---things. And the tension in the room was already awkward enough as it was; there was no need to add any more of his thoughts to the mix right now. "Anyway, I ate with them at the cafeteria and hey, they have some good food over there. I'm thinking of eating with them more often now. Maybe tomorrow."  
  
Giles rubbed his eyes. He looked tired and--maybe a little confused too. "Xander, I--"  
  
"Anyway, did I mention I was exhausted? I really should go to bed now and let you get some work done," Xander said hastily, waving at the pile of documents on Giles' lap. He could recognize most of them from Dawn and York's reports, and it reminded him of exactly why he was pissed off at Giles. He needed to get away. "I'll see you--whenever." He shrugged and turned around.  
  
"Xander--" Giles began.   
  
Xander didn't look back. "Going to bed," he repeated. "It can wait until morning, right?"  
  
Giles sighed. "I suppose it can."  
  
"Okay, then." And in the morning, he thought, he would stay in his room until he was sure Giles was busy in his office, and then go and see if there wasn't something else he could do to keep out of Giles' way for the rest of the day, until time to meet the girls again for dinner. If he went over to the dorms, he bet Mrs. Cheever and whoever was in charge of the guys' dorm would have a long list of things that needed to be fixed.   
  
If he was lucky, he'd be able to avoid Giles until this was all settled and he could go back to Africa.   
  
Xander went upstairs, kicking off his shoes and lying down on the bed, his hands folded behind his head. It wasn't all that late, and he wasn't anywhere near as tired as he'd told Giles. He'd just--there'd just been no way that he could sit down there with Giles tonight.   
  
It wasn't the kiss, not really. Xander had spent a lot of time alone the past couple of years, and he'd had plenty of chances to think. He hadn't given much thought to  _Giles_  kissing him; there'd been no reason for him to think of it as a possibility. But a guy? He'd thought about it. He'd reached the point where he'd gotten comfortable with the idea that he might even like it. So no matter what Giles probably thought, Xander wasn't freaking out because Giles had kissed him.   
  
But Giles had kissed him to get him to stop arguing, and Giles had dismissed his opinions as being nothing more than conspiracy theory, and there was no way Xander was going to sit in the same room with Giles, making small talk and knowing that no matter what he did, Giles wasn't taking him seriously.   
  
And as soon as he was sure that the girls were safe, he'd have Andrew put him on a flight to Italy. Buffy and Dawn would be glad to see him, and he'd spend the rest of his vacation time with them.   
  
  


***

  
  
Giles had spent all day, in between work, trying to understand what had possessed him to kiss Xander. Not that today had been the first time he'd thought about it; Xander had been foremost in his thoughts for some time now, and Giles was not an idiot. Xander had grown into a very attractive young man, intelligent, quick, brave...  
  
Giles admired him deeply, and he had, on some occasions, wondered what it would feel like to kiss him.  
  
Not this way, however. He had never meant for it to happen this way, if it happened at all.   
  
Giles had needed time to think, reassess the situation, put Xander's theory in order, and Xander hadn't been listening to him, hadn't been willing to stop for a moment to let Giles put a word in. Giles had heard all that Xander had said. While at the time it had seemed almost ridiculous to think that York might really be behind Bishop's attack and would have rewritten her notes, Giles had spent all afternoon and a good part of the evening looking into it.  
  
He hadn't wanted to bother Andrew, so he'd had to do all the digging himself, and it hadn't been easy, not with other Council business to take care of. He had to keep from looking suspicious, after all. By the end of the afternoon, he had finally put his hand on a two-week-old report that Bishop had sent the demonology teacher about a demon they needed information on for class work. The report had been neatly handwritten, whereas the one York had sent Giles was typed.  
  
That alone would not have raised Giles' suspicion if he hadn't known that Bishop loathed computers about as much as he did. If she had to type something, she used the ancient manual typewriter he'd seen in her office, but she didn't bother most of the time. York, however, used a computer regularly, mainly since the explosion had damaged his right hand. He still handwrote most of his reports, particularly the shorter ones, but it wasn't rare to see a typed one, especially when they arrived late in the day. If he'd rewritten Bishop's notes during the night, as Xander had pointed out he might have, his hand would have been bothering him, and he wouldn't have been able to handwrite. Certainly not to try to mimic her handwriting, even though they were quite similar at first glance. On the other hand, it was a truly stupid mistake to make, and one thing that York wasn't was stupid.  
  
There was always the thought that York might have been too tired and angry to really think about what he was doing, though. A conclusion that left Giles with more questions than answers, yet again.  
  
The conspiracy theory was still ridiculous in many aspects, but Giles owed Xander an apology. That was what he had been about to say when Xander had declared he was going to bed. It would have to wait until the morning.  
  
With a sigh, Giles closed his book. He wasn't going to get much further on his own; he might as well get a good night's sleep.  
  


***


	7. Chapter 7

The "good night's sleep" had utterly failed to materialize. When, the last time Giles woke up, his mind still busily turning over all the facts at his disposal and failing to come up with anything resembling a good solution to the problem, he saw that it was almost dawn, he decided that he might as well give up on getting any rest.   
  
He was meant to be speaking to a group of the senior Watcher trainees that morning, anyway, young men and women within the final year of their training, and he hadn't actually taken any time in the past few days to prepare. Not that he ever did prepare much; he'd done this a few times already, and he tended to send the instructor off to find him- or herself a cup of tea, close the door, and let the students ask him questions for the rest of the hour.   
  
Even if the students didn't learn anything much from him--he had his doubts, sometimes--it gave him a better idea of who they were, and which of them he'd trust with an equally-inexperienced Slayer in a year or two.   
  
The talk didn't go all that badly, all things considered, though he did spend a good portion of the time fielding questions about the patrols he'd established. There were only so many times he could say, "It's a training exercise," before he became convinced they could all tell he was lying.   
  
He'd stopped off at the girls' dormitory, where Mrs. Cheever--he knew perfectly well that she had a first name, but she'd put the fear of God into him when he'd been a small boy and she'd been one of his father's colleagues, and he wasn't about to dare to use it--delivered her report on the patrols, down to the teams that took far too long to cover their assigned territory and should probably be separated "for their own good." That had been her segue into her usual criticisms of her counterpart in the other dormitory; Giles had spent at least fifteen minutes reassuring her that she was, in fact, Mr. Adams' superior, and that he'd certainly read through any formal written complaints that she cared to make, before escaping to his office.   
  
Perhaps Andrew would have brought in breakfast again, he thought, as he went down the steps of the dormitory, just in time to see a police car pulling out of the drive. Good Lord.   
  
There was no reason to expect the worst; the police had been around once because one of the Slayers had been shoplifting in the village, and another time because a handful of the students had slipped out after curfew, got their hands on several bottles of cheap alcohol, and made a nuisance of themselves. Some of the time, his job was very like the headmaster of any school in the world, he thought.   
  
On the other hand, he wouldn't know if it was something serious or not until he asked. Giles crossed the courtyard at a brisk walk, balancing his need to get back to the office quickly to find out what had happened and the need not to arouse too much curiosity among the students who were on their way to their next classes.   
  
"Andrew," he called as he walked down the short hallway leading to their offices, "did I just see the police leaving here?"  
  
The response from Andrew's office was an incoherent wail, and Giles pushed the door open to find Andrew with his head down on a pile of papers. "Andrew," he repeated, "what did the police want?"   
  
Andrew looked up, and Giles realized in surprise that his eyes were red and unusually bright. "Someone called in about an hour ago to report a car wreck," he said. "The, um, the driver of the car was killed. They couldn't find anything in the car to tell them who to notify, so they called the rental agency--"  
  
"Gregory," Giles said, as it clicked into place. "Dear God." He and Xander had argued and bickered and tried to keep things quiet to avoid a panic, and as a result, a good man had been killed.   
  
Giles tried to remind himself that he had called Gregory the morning before and had warned him, but it didn't do anything to prevent the onslaught of guilt that was building in his chest. "Andrew, I--do you have any more details?"  
  
He needed to find Xander, needed to let him know what had happened.  
  
"No, they just--they just said he was dead. They gave me this," Andrew whispered, voice broken, and pointed at a sheet of paper on his desk.  
  
Giles needed to think fast, figure out who to call to prevent this from happening again. First things first: "Is anyone else due back from the field today?"  
  
Andrew just blinked at him, tears streaming down his cheeks.  
  
"Andrew, I need you to focus, please." Giles put a hand on Andrew's shoulder, and squeezed softly.  
  
The young man shook his head. "No, no one else's due back today. Just--just him. And it's my fault, I shouldn't have--"  
  
"Oh for God's sake," he snapped, "it isn't your fault." It was nobody's fault but his own. He should have listened to Xander more carefully. "It isn't your fault," he repeated, more calmly this time, reminding himself that Andrew was on the verge of breaking down, and he didn't need to be yelled at.  
  
"I told him, I said, I wanted--" With a wail, Andrew bolted from the office, and Giles heard the door of the bathroom close soon after.   
  
He pinched the bridge of his nose, shaking his head, took the police report from Andrew's desk, and walked out into the hallway. It was only a preliminary findings report, nothing too conclusive, but it held all the information Giles needed to confirm Xander's theory. Alan Gregory, male, age twenty-seven, already dead when the paramedics had arrived on the scene. The driver's side of the car was completely destroyed; the causes of the wreck were unknown, pending investigation.  
  
Giles didn't find Xander in the study, nor the dining room or the kitchen, so he climbed the stairs two at a time, the report held in his hand. He knocked on Xander's door, and went in when a muffled "Yeah," answered him.   
  
"I'm sorry," Giles said immediately, when he made eye contact with Xander. "I should--"  
  
"Oh God, something happened, didn't it?" Xander swung his legs over the side of the bed and stood, reaching for his pants.  
  
"It's Gregory."  
  
Jeans held in one hand, Xander faced Giles, gaping. "No, you can't be serious."  
  
"Unfortunately, I am," Giles said, sighing. "Here, see for yourself." He gave Xander the report and sat on the bed, taking his head in his hands. "I should have taken you much more seriously, Xander; I am so very sorry." He was so distressed, it never actually occurred to him that Xander was only wearing a pair of boxer shorts, until Xander sat down beside him and touched his hand. Then he was all too aware of Xander's skin, close enough to touch. He pushed those thoughts away; it was neither the time nor the place for this. "I should have warned him not to come back alone, but I didn't think of it at all, I--you were right."  
  
"I was--I was right?" Xander sounded distraught, the opposite of how he'd sounded the last time Giles had told him that. "God, Giles."  
  
"We need to think fast, Xander, I don't know when the next Watcher is due back from the field. Andrew has the schedule, but I doubt he's going to be much use today. I need to warn the entire Council."  
  
"Wait," Xander stood, pulled on his pants, and reached for a shirt. "Rumors are going to start soon. I mean, some of the kids and the faculty members must have seen the police car, and Andrew can't keep his mouth shut, and I'm pretty sure at least a couple of people were expecting Gregory back today and they're going to notice when he doesn't, but--if I'm right, if my conspiracy theory is right, sending out a big Bat-signal is just going to make them know we're onto them, and they're going to lie low." Xander passed the shirt over his head, frowning. "Before we tell anyone what's going on, we need to figure out a way to catch them."  
  
"We need to determine who 'they' are, first," Giles pointed out. "I agree with you; the attacks have been aimed at the Watchers. But we don't know who's behind them. Even if we assume that Dawn's report was correct and the demons are intelligent,  _someone_  must be directing or controlling them. I could imagine them attacking the Slayers on their own, but if they're focusing on Watchers..."  
  
"Or hiring them," Xander suggested. "I mean, they don't like humans, but maybe if there was something they were getting in exchange?"   
  
"Such as?"  
  
"I have no idea," Xander admitted. "What do demons want?" He shrugged. "That doesn't matter. The reason it's important is that it broadens our list of suspects." He got up, getting a pair of socks out of the dresser and then coming back to sit next to Giles to put them on.   
  
Giles frowned, about to ask Xander what he meant when it suddenly made sense. "Because if they're being controlled, we're almost certainly dealing with someone with a relatively high level of magical training, but if they're hired mercenaries, the only thing he would need is money, or some other asset to offer the demons." He sighed. "And we're going to have to assume that's a possibility, because we can't afford to rule anything out."   
  
"So right now, the only thing we're sure of is that it isn't either of us," Xander said. "And I know, that's exaggerating a little; I don't think Andrew had anything to do with this."  
  
"Mrs. Cheever may think I'm a young upstart with no sense of tradition, but I still trust her implicitly," Giles added.   
  
"Okay, that's four of us," Xander said. "And we can't keep this a secret any more, because I'd bet you five bucks that the police car pulling up is already the talk of the school. We're going to have to tell them about Gregory, at least."  
  
"At the moment," Giles said, "I plan to tell them that he was killed in an automobile accident, and leave out any details. That should satisfy their curiosity without making whoever's responsible suspicious."  
  
"That won't work for long," Xander said. "I mean, they have to know what we're doing. They knew Gregory was coming back today, and when his flight would get in...." He frowned. "Do you think your office is bugged?"   
  
That had never occurred to Giles. "I've no idea," he said. "That's beyond my area of expertise. I suppose we could search."  
  
Xander sighed. "I wouldn't even know what to look for." Then, looking up, he added, "Andrew might, though."  
  
Giles thought about the state he'd left Andrew in. "I don't know that he'll be much help. He was rather... distraught after talking to the police."   
  
"It's worth a try, anyway." Now fully dressed, Xander got up, all of yesterday's tension between the two of them apparently forgotten. "So what's our plan? You tell the school about Gregory, I'll see what can be done to get Andrew calmed down and at least semi-helpful, and then... what? We try to figure out how they're finding out where people are going to be. That's not common knowledge, is it?"  
  
"Not unless the Watchers who were attacked have told them," Giles said. "That might have been possible in some of the earlier attacks, but Gregory... well, he wasn't the sort to socialize much."   
  
"Okay, then they're getting the information from somewhere. And if we know how, maybe we'll know who?"  
  
Giles nodded, feeling a little relieved that he and Xander seemed to be able to work together again. "That's what I was thinking. But if we haven't made any progress in the next twenty-four hours, I'm going to have to tell the rest of the Council about this. I can't keep them unaware that they're in danger."  
  
"Then we're just going to have to solve this in twenty-four hours."  
  
  


***

  
  
They'd definitely need twenty-four hours, Xander thought. After Giles had gone to take care of telling everyone about Gregory, Xander had gone downstairs to find Andrew. He'd really thought he had the easy job.  
  
But apparently not.  
  
"Andrew?" Xander called out, after stepping into the empty office. A short wail answered him from behind the desk, and he peeked over to find Andrew huddled against the wall. "Hey, you okay?"  
  
Andrew shook his head and looked up, eyes red-rimmed and filled with tears.  
  
With a sigh, Xander sat down by Andrew's side, squished between the desk and the chair. "Hey," he said again, trying to sound comforting and forget that they were on a deadline and didn't have time to deal with this. He hadn't even realized Andrew had known Gregory all that well; Xander hadn't been around much, and it wasn't like he and Andrew talked about anything really personal most of the time. It wasn't a secret, though, that Andrew really liked Gregory, and it wasn't like Xander didn't know what Andrew-with-a-crush looked like. He should have been expecting this.  
  
"I told him," Andrew whispered, sniffling. "On the phone, yesterday, I told him he had two options, and he could come back today or the day after tomorrow, and I--I said I missed him. So he--he grabbed the night flight."  
  
"God, Andrew," Xander wrapped an arm around Andrew's shoulder and pulled him closer. "It's not your fault."  
  
"How can you say that? You don't know--"  
  
"No, maybe not," Xander interrupted him. "Maybe I don't know, but Andrew, even if Gregory had come home two days from now, he would have been killed anyway."  
  
"You can't know that," Andrew said vehemently, but when he looked at Xander, he was frowning.  
  
Xander let out a sigh, and shook his head. "Unfortunately, I can." He looked away from Andrew. No, it wasn't Andrew's fault, it was Xander's for avoiding Giles all day yesterday and not being more certain of himself, and it was Giles' for not listening to him at all in the first place. "You know how my car was attacked, and then Gregory's was? Giles and I have been working on trying to figure out what that demon was, and... we're pretty sure that's what killed him this morning too."  
  
"No," Andrew said miserably. "It was a car wreck, he'd just made it back to Bangkok, and if he'd waited to come back until tomorrow, he wouldn't have been so  _tired_...."   
  
Xander kept his arm around Andrew's shoulders, but he raised his voice. "Listen to me. This was not your fault. It wasn't an ordinary car wreck. Someone murdered Gregory, and unless that someone was you--" Xander winced as Andrew sobbed loudly. "No, I know it wasn't you, Andrew, seriously. So it wasn't your fault."   
  
Andrew looked up at him again, face still streaked with tears. "But murder? Who would want to kill him? He was--" He started crying again, and Xander decided that he definitely had a worse job than Giles.   
  
"I know," Xander said. "But Giles and I are sure that's what happened." He took a deep breath. "And we need your help to catch the people behind it." He wasn't sure Andrew would be all that much help, considering the state he was in, but keeping Andrew busy would at least stop him from curling up on the floor and crying.   
  
At least, Xander hoped so, because no matter  _what_  Giles told the rest of the school, there was no way anyone would believe him given the way Andrew was acting.   
  
"What can I do?" Andrew said, sitting up straighter and wiping his eyes, though he was still sniffling.   
  
"Who knew that--look, can we get up off the floor now?" Xander said. When Andrew nodded, he got up, helping Andrew to his feet and pulling the desk chair out so Andrew could sit down. Xander closed and locked the door to Andrew's office, to make certain they wouldn't be interrupted, and then came back to perch on the edge of Andrew's desk.   
  
"Who knew that Gregory was coming back today?" Xander asked once he was settled.   
  
Andrew shook his head. "Nobody. I mean, I did, of course, and he did, and you and Mr. Giles, but I didn't tell anyone else."  
  
"Giles and I didn't, either," Xander said. "At least, I know I didn't, and I'm pretty sure Giles didn't mention it to anybody. So unless Gregory told someone--" Something occurred to Xander, and he frowned. "Do we use a travel agent?"  
  
"No, I got his ticket online, from the airline. And even if someone had intercepted the data, his ticket had an open return date. They wouldn't have known when he was coming back, just the airline."   
  
"Someone might have overheard him when he made his flight arrangements," Xander said, "but they'd have been in Thailand with him. Why fly all the way back to London to kill him when you could do it before he left?"   
  
Andrew shook his head. "Nobody knew he was coming back," he repeated. "So how could someone have known where he'd be to kill him?"  
  
"That's what I want you to tell me," Xander said. "I know you used to know a lot of weird technical stuff, right? Back when--back in Sunnydale," he finished, not really wanting to end with, "back when you were evil." He didn't give Andrew a chance to answer, just went on, "We think maybe Giles' office is bugged, or yours is. I know it'd be hard to do, with Giles living in the other half of the house, but it seemed like the simplest explanation."   
  
"We're going to sweep the offices for bugs?" Andrew said, brightening a little. He still looked like he might break down again at any moment, but at least he wasn't huddled into a little ball under his desk.  
  
Xander sighed. "Yeah, it looks like we're going to have to. But seriously, Andrew, no one else can know about this."   
  
Andrew gave him a hurt look. "I know how to keep secrets."   
  
He doubted that, but Xander decided arguing wouldn't be a good idea. "Not saying you don't, Andrew, just that people are going to have a lot of questions. And they'd come to you for answers, wouldn't they, if they thought Giles hadn't told them everything?"  
  
"Everyone  _does_  know that Mr. Giles keeps me up-to-date on everything," Andrew agreed.   
  
"And Giles is telling the school that this was just a car accident, because we don't want people to completely panic--and we really don't want whoever's responsible to know we're on to them. So if people have questions, you're going to have to tell them it was just an accident." Privately, Xander thought anybody who questioned Andrew about Gregory's death was likely to have to deal with a sobbing Andrew and probably wouldn't get any useful information out of him, but he had to make sure.   
  
Andrew nodded, and Xander went on. "I'm going to help you check in here and in Giles' office for bugs, so if anyone asks, I'm doing some repair work as a favor to Giles, and I got you to help me." Enough people would have seen Xander doing small carpentry and repair jobs around the school on previous visits that it wouldn't be hard to believe. For bigger jobs, or when Xander wasn't around, Giles hired someone, but the less time outsiders spent around the school, the better.   
  
"I can do that," Andrew insisted.   
  
Xander certainly hoped so. "Okay, then. Let's get to work."  
  
They started with Giles' office. Xander didn't know why, but that's where Andrew headed first. Maybe he just needed to get away from his own office for a while, and when Andrew managed to not curl up into a ball and cry at all for all the time it took them to turn Giles' office upside down, and then back to its original state, Xander was glad that's where they'd started. He didn't think they'd have had that result if they'd been in Andrew's office first.  
  
By the time they were done, Giles was back, and watching them from where he stood, leaning against the closed door. "Anything?"  
  
Andrew answered before Xander could. "No, nothing that looks even close to a listening device." He sounded a lot calmer than just an hour ago.  
  
"All right," Giles sighed. "At least that means we can speak freely in here." He was going to add something when a knock on the door interrupted his thoughts.  
  
Xander put the pile of papers he'd been putting in order back on Giles' desk, and he and Andrew sat down on the two chairs.  
  
Giles opened the door. "May I help you?" he asked, frowning, when two students--a Slayer and a future Watcher--looked at him.  
  
The teenage boy stood forward, looking so frightened that Xander felt a pang of sympathy for him. "We have something to tell you, sir," he said, stuttering slightly. "May we come in?" He looked quickly inside and seemed relieved to see only Xander and Andrew there. Apparently, they weren't as frightening as the rest of the faculty.  
  
"Of course," Giles agreed, shooting Xander a worried look as he let the teenagers in and shut the door behind them. "I'm afraid I can't remember your names."  
  
"I'm Camden Travers, sir," the boy said, and then waved at his friend. "This is Selena Cruz."  
  
Xander groaned at the boy's name; he'd forgotten that Travers' grandson was actually attending the Academy, and from the look on Giles' face, so had he. At least that meant he probably wasn't as annoying as his grandfather.  
  
"Yes," Giles nodded, letting as little of his surprise show in his expression as he could. "From El Salvador, isn't it?"  
  
The girl nodded nervously, looking sideways at her companion. "Something--something happened last night, sir," she said, in a lilting accent. "We--we didn't want to be scolded, so we didn't say anything when we got back to Mrs. Cheever and Mr. Adams."  
  
"With Mr. Gregory's death, we though--" Camden picked up, then stopped, looking down on the floor. He shook his head. "I mean, it's--it's not just an accident, is it? The little girl from Africa? I can't remember her name, I'm sorry."  
  
"Niki," Xander supplied, more interested now than annoyed.  
  
"Yes, she said they had been attacked, their car?"  
  
Giles nodded, looking at Xander worriedly. "Go on," he said when Camden didn't continue.  
  
It was Selena who picked up the tale. "We were patrolling last night, and we--we split up from our group. Lily and Gretchen took the right, and we took the left, and we--" She blushed furiously.  
  
Xander sighed. This was getting back to being annoying. It was absolutely obvious that they had been doing everything  _but_  patrolling, just from the way they were standing close together and giving each other furtive looks.  
  
Giles picked up on it too, because he shook his head. "You were both distracted, I assume?"  
  
Camden and Selena nodded. "We're sorry, sir," Camden breathed. "We swear it won't happen again, we've learnt our lesson."  
  
"Of course it won't happen again," Giles said. Xander thought he sounded a little harsh, but the situation was kind of desperate, and they didn't really need to be dealing with two disobedient teenagers right now. "I'll have you both separated in the future. Now, please, go on."  
  
Camden squeezed Selena's arm comfortingly, and then turned back to Giles. "We stopped against a tree, and we were distracted when we heard a sound behind us." His voice was a lot more steady now, business-like. He might be shy when it came to personal stuff, but he had a good head on his shoulders, Xander thought. In spite of who he was related to, he might actually make an okay Watcher one of these days. "Selena saw it, the demon."  
  
"It was green, about this tall," she supplied, extending her arm as high over her head as it could go. "It had claws and--" She stopped when Andrew jumped to his feet and walked out of the office.  
  
Giles and Xander looked at each other, frowning, but didn't have time to even think about why Andrew had bolted like that before he came back, closed the door behind himself, and handed a sheet of paper to the two teenager. "Did it look like this?" Andrew asked, and it suddenly made sense. With the number of copies of that sketch he'd ended up with the other day when he'd battled with the copy machine, Andrew would have at least one lying around close by.  
  
"Good thinking, Andrew," Giles said, impressed. Andrew smiled at him, just a little smug, and sat back.  
  
"Yes!" Selena and Camden both said. "This is exactly what it looked like," Camden continued, handing Giles the sketch. "It came after me."  
  
"I told him to run and get Lily and Gretchen, but the demon followed him, not me."  
  
Xander stood, anxious. "You're sure that it followed him? It saw you," he said, pointing at Selena, "but followed him?"  
  
"Yes, I'm certain. It barely even glanced at me."  
  
"It's like it dismissed her entirely," Camden added. "Selena managed to knock it out, but we were so scared, we ran back to the dorms and…" He shrugged.  
  
"Didn't tell anyone," Giles finished for them. When both of them nodded, Giles went on. "We're going to have to take disciplinary actions, but not right now. I'm willing to give you both some leniency if you promise not to tell anyone about this for the foreseeable future. Nobody, and I repeat," he said, pushing each word, "nobody must know about this."  
  
"We promise, sir," Camden said, solemnly. "We won't tell anyone."  
  
"I'll contact Mrs. Cheever and Mr. Adams, and have them put Camden on another patrol team. And I'll expect both of you to be on your best behavior from now on. I've heard that you've been sneaking around the girls' dormitories for a while now," he added, looking sternly at Camden, and the boy blushed. "No more of that. You have plenty of opportunity to see Miss Cruz during your classes and your free time, without breaking school rules."  
  
Xander was pretty sure Giles or Mrs. Cheever didn't know who the stalker-kid had been, or they'd have done something about it before now, but it was obvious just from the way Camden looked down that it had been him. And come to think of it, he did look a lot like that kid Xander had seen in the bushes that first night.   
  
"Yes, sir."  
  
Giles sent Selena right back to class, but asked Camden to stay. "Can you show us where the demon attacked you?"  
  
"Yeah," the boy answered. "I don't think I'm going to forget that any time soon."  
  
"Probably not," Xander said, tapping Camden's shoulder.  
  
"All right," Giles stood up, giving Andrew back the sketch. "Can you keep looking for what we talked about earlier?"  
  
"Yes, I can do that," Andrew replied, nodding. Now that the distraction was over, Xander could see Andrew slowly going back into his funk. "I'll look in my office, and give you a call if I find anything."  
  
"That will do." Giles turned to Xander. "We'll go look around with Camden, and see if the demon left us any clue as to where it comes from."  
  
"Sure." Xander grabbed his jacket and followed Giles out.  
  


***


	8. Chapter 8

The demon hadn't left much in the way of tracks, unfortunately. Not that Xander had been expecting it to; they hadn't had much luck so far in finding out what was going on, and there was no reason for him to expect that to change.   
  
The grass had been walked on, certainly, but having several teenagers traipse across it would have done the damage. One large demon could have, as well, but neither of them was inclined to take that as evidence of anything.   
  
"I don't think we're going to find anything," Giles said, echoing Xander's own thoughts. Then, turning to Camden, he asked, "Which direction did the demon come from?"   
  
"I'm not quite sure, sir," he said, not meeting Giles' eyes. "We were over there," he went on, pointing at an oak tree, "and the demon came from that way." That wasn't all that helpful, as "that way" was toward the wooded area next to the school grounds. Even a wild guess as to where the demon might have come from would have led them there.   
  
Giles sighed. "And you can't be any more specific, I suppose." He wasn't even trying to hide how annoyed he was with the kid.   
  
"N-no, sir," the boy stammered. "I didn't see it until it was right there."   
  
Xander shook his head, snickering. "Yeah, I believe you." Selena  _was_  pretty, and he remembered enough of when he'd had a crush on Buffy to know that it was kind of hard to pay attention to anything else. Still, there was that grown-up voice in his head that kept saying Camden should have known better and paid attention; they'd been on patrol, after all.  
  
Then again, even if what had happened to his grandfather--and parents, too, if Xander remembered right--ought to have convinced Camden, at least, to take things seriously, they'd never had to deal with actual demons on school grounds before, contrary to what Xander's high school years had been like. He sighed, looking off into the distance at the woods. "Yeah, I think we won't get anything more from here. Even if we tried to follow footprints, which the demon wasn't helpful enough to leave, he's probably long gone by now."  
  
"I agree," Giles said. "As much as I'd like to search the woods to find its hiding place, we lack the manpower to do it fast enough. We should head back." He looked at Camden, the stern look back on his face. "You'll head back to class, and no more of those late-night escapades."  
  
Camden gulped and shook his head. "No, sir."  
  
"Good. Run along then."  
  
Camden nodded and took off at a brisk pace. Without a word, Giles and Xander followed him back to the school grounds, keeping an eye on him until he was back into the building.  
  
"I'd rather no more students were attacked," Giles declared, breaking the silence.  
  
"I hear you," Xander agreed. "What we need is a plan." His stomach growled, and he looked at his watch.  
  
"What we need first, apparently, is food," Giles countered, smiling. "Let's grab something from the kitchen before meeting with Andrew. I'm sure he'll be glad for something to eat."  
  
Xander shook his head, but followed Giles back to the house. "I don't think he'll be able to eat. Did you know he and Gregory were close? I mean, I knew he had a crush on the guy, that was more than obvious, and let's just say that I was very happy that he'd stopped, you know, following me around, but--I had no idea they were that close."  
  
"Neither did I," Giles said thoughtfully. "I must admit to being absolutely clueless about Andrew's love life--and, in general, grateful about that."  
  
Xander nodded, and fell silent, not wanting to linger on the thoughts of love and death. He'd put the past behind him, but sometimes things happened that brought those thoughts forward again.  
  
And for some reason, his mind kept going to the same thought:  _What if it had been Giles_?  
  
He really didn't want to play that game right now. He glanced at Giles and sighed silently. Wrong time, wrong place, and Xander was taken with the urge to touch Giles just to make sure he really  _was_  there.  
  
What the hell was wrong with him lately? This whole demon thing was getting to him. And the kissing hadn't helped. They really needed to get this over with so he could go away and get Giles out of his head. If that was even possible.  
  
It'd been worrying him less when he and Andrew had been searching Giles' office, so maybe that was the solution, for him as well as Andrew. If he kept busy, his mind would stay on the task at hand, and he wouldn't be thinking about all the things that could happen to Giles if they didn't stop this, soon.   
  
So he'd go back to the house, get something to eat, and then help Andrew search for the bug they probably wouldn't find. Maybe they should bring Willow in on this, he thought; after all, there was a chance that whoever was doing this was using magic, and he and Andrew might not find a  _magical_ listening device. If nothing turned up in Andrew's office, then maybe he'd suggest it to Giles.   
  
And if Willow had to come here, then that would be another distraction from thinking about Giles.  
  
When they neared the house, the door opened, and Andrew came out, a manila envelope tucked under his arm. "I was just coming to look for you," he said, holding the envelope out to Giles. "I'm sorry, I got the mail right before the police came, and I--" He shook his head. "I must have forgotten," he finished, his voice very small. He'd been crying again, Xander was sure, and it made Xander even more uncomfortable to think about himself being in Andrew's position.   
  
"That's understandable," Giles said gently, taking the envelope. "It's been an extraordinarily stressful day, and not getting my post on time is hardly--" He broke off, looking at the envelope, and then tore it open.   
  
Inside was another, smaller, brown envelope, and Xander recognized the return address label on it--or at least, he recognized the Council's letterhead on it. Giles handed him the envelope as he unfolded the sheet of paper that had slid from the outer envelope along with it; Xander looked down to see that the return address on it was the London office, and it was addressed to Giles, with "Confidential" and "Urgent" written on it in neat block letters.   
  
"It's from Bishop," Giles said. "Her husband found the envelope in her handbag." He sighed. "He apologizes, he says, for having taken a day to notice it and post it to us."   
  
Xander shook his head. "Like he didn't have more important things on his mind," he said. "But--you think these are Bishop's notes?" He was already tearing open the envelope, figuring that under the circumstances, Giles wasn't likely to mind.   
  
There were just a few pages in the envelope. Xander picked up the top one. " _Dear Mr. Giles,_ " he started to read. " _I fear my findings might not be what Mr. York wishes them to be. He has demanded that I falsify my report before his return, which I cannot possibly agree to. I send these translations by courier, because I fear I might not have the time to do much more before he returns._ " Xander looked up at Giles, shocked. "York." He had been right. His totally unbelievable and insane conspiracy theory was right, and York was behind Mrs. Bishop's attack.  
  
"Not here. Let's get back inside," Giles said swiftly, opening the door and waiting until they were all three in Giles' office, the door safely closed behind them before he spoke again. "You were right, Xander." He picked up the letter from Xander's hands and scanned it rapidly. "She felt she was in danger," he summed up. "She didn't finish the translation, but she sent what she could before York's return."  
  
"But Mr. York wouldn't hurt Mrs. Bishop," Andrew chimed in. He looked confused, and Xander didn't blame him.  
  
"It's a long story, Andrew," Xander said, slumping down on a chair. "I had this insane conspiracy theory where York, or someone York reports to, sent those demons to kill Watchers who were loyal to Giles." He groaned, banging his head on the back of the chair. "I was right."  
  
"We still don't know who is orchestrating this thing," Giles added. He took the rest of the documents out of the envelope and quickly scanned them. "At least now we can assume Dawn's research was right."  
  
Xander picked up the papers and looked at them while Giles explained the situation to Andrew as quickly as he could--which meant Xander probably had ten or fifteen minutes to read through this, because Giles and "quick explanation" didn't really work well together. "So we know that the demons who lost the religious war," Xander said eventually, not even caring that he was interrupting Giles in the middle of his speech. "Those are the demons for hire. We can totally not care about the other half of the species, because they're more peaceful than Switzerland. So someone from the Council had to hire the mean ones to do their dirty work, right?"  
  
Giles was pacing the room now, glasses in one hand and the letter in the other. "Possibly, but I still can't believe--"  
  
"I can," Andrew countered sharply. "I see things you don't, Mr. Giles, and one of those things is that there are a lot of people from the old Council who  _don't_  like you or what you're doing here. And they're a lot unhappier than I think you realize."  
  
"Right, so someone hired the demons, and we have to figure out who." Xander crossed his arms over his chest, and looked at both Giles and Andrew. "But how?"  
  
"If Mr. York was trying to stop Mrs. Bishop from sending you those notes," Andrew said, "doesn't that mean we already know who?"  
  
Giles shook his head. "Not necessarily," he said. "He's never shown enough initiative to be behind something like this." Xander had to agree. York might be a key part of the conspiracy, but he wasn't the one who'd started it all. York was the evil-henchman kind of guy, in Xander's opinion.   
  
"I bet York wouldn't be hard to find," Xander said.  
  
"No, I doubt he would be," Giles said, "but I'm also certain he already has a story prepared to cover all of this."  
  
"We could interrogate him," Andrew said. Xander had to admit, he could see Andrew's point. Given everything that had happened, tying somebody to a chair and punching them in the face was tempting.   
  
"It might work," Giles said, "but it would work much better if we could demonstrate to York that we already know something about the plan. If he thinks he has nothing to lose by cooperating with us, then he might be more willing to talk." He sighed. "It would have been helpful if one of the Slayers had managed to capture the demon that came on school grounds last night."   
  
"It'll come back, won't it?" Andrew said.   
  
"Probably not," Xander chimed in. "Now that it knows we have Slayers patrolling the school grounds in bigger numbers, I doubt it'll come back."  
  
"And I'm not going to put the students at any more risk than they already are," Giles said firmly.   
  
"I could lure one of them out of hiding," Xander said. "I could go on leave for a couple of days, rent another car and drive somewhere. Somebody could follow me with a car full of Slayers," he added. "I'm not feeling self-sacrificing."  
  
"No," Giles said, immediately and very definitely. "It's far too risky. If the Slayers lost track of you even for an instant--"  
  
"I can't take a Slayer with me, though," Xander argued, "because if they suspect at  _all_  that we're onto them, they'll guess that we're expecting trouble."  
  
Giles frowned, staring off into the middle distance for several seconds. "We need a situation with a Watcher we trust absolutely, and some excuse for him or her to be traveling with a Slayer bodyguard."   
  
"There aren't any Watchers due to come in from the field soon," Andrew volunteered.   
  
Sighing, Giles said, "No. I didn't think so."   
  
"Willow?" Xander suggested. "We can definitely trust her, and it wouldn't look suspicious for her to bring Kennedy with her."   
  
"That's a thought," Giles said, just as Andrew shook his head.   
  
"I printed out that e-mail for you last week," he said. "Willow's gone off to study with some local shaman for a few days. No phone, no e-mail, no anything at all."   
  
Xander sighed. Willow was out and there wasn't any other Watcher they could really trust with this. Buffy was automatically out, on account of being the only Slayer  _everyone_  on the Council was intimidated by, no matter where their allegiance was. And then there was Dawn. "Hey, York already thinks we've been testing Dawn's research skills, doesn't he?"  
  
Giles frowned. "He knows we've been testing  _someone_ 's research skills, not that it's Dawn's specifically."  
  
"Okay, but--this is probably an insane idea, but it'd give us a reason to let York know someone's coming. What about bringing Dawn in on it? We already have the excuse all picked out with that whole 'pet project' thing, and we'd need someone to take Bishop's place while she's in the hospital, because York can't do all the work on his own."  
  
"And even though it's earlier than we'd anticipated hiring her, it couldn't come at a more opportune moment." Giles smiled. "That is a brilliant idea."  
  
"Buffy can come with her, too; it wouldn't even look suspicious," Andrew added.  
  
"We need to leave that part out of it, though, when we talk to York, because if he knows Buffy's coming, he won't do anything." Xander grabbed the phone; one word from Giles and he'd be dialing Italy. "It's a double score, because we know York won't like the idea of working with someone so young,  _especially_  Dawn, so we'll be pissing him off as well as making sure he reports that information to whoever's on top of this."  
  
"All right," Giles said. "We need to make sure Buffy knows not to  _kill_  the demon; we need to be able to interrogate it. I'll need a little more information from Dawn before you hang up, Xander, so remember to pass her to me. Andrew?" When Andrew looked up and nodded, Giles continued, "I'll need you back in your office and looking for that bug. We still need to find out who the mole is."  
  
"Sure thing, Captain." It was said without as much conviction as it had the first time Xander heard it, and he stopped in the middle of dialing to watch Andrew leave the room, head held down and eyes still red and swollen.  
  
"When this is over? We need to have a memorial service for Gregory or something, and Andrew will need a few days off."  
  
"I had already thought of that," Giles replied, sighing. "I don't know how it will help, though."  
  
Xander shrugged. "It probably won't, but it's something."   
  
"I suppose." He gathered all the papers from the coffee table. "Call Dawn now."  
  
"Yes, Boss," Xander said, smiling and picking up the phone again. "Hey, kiddo!" he said when Dawn picked up.  
  
"Xander! How are you?"  
  
"I'm--I guess I'm okay. Not dead."  
  
"Not being dead is a good thing," she said, although her tone had gone from bouncy to worried. "What's going on?"  
  
"Remember that demon we had you research? We need your help." It took him about three minutes to explain the situation to Dawn, and just one more before she agreed to play bait. "We'll be close by, so nothing's going to happen to you."  
  
"I know, you wouldn't ask me to do this if you thought I'd be in danger. You forget that I  _know_  how overprotective you guys are." She laughed. "Want me to ask Buffy? She just came home."  
  
"No, I think it's best if Giles talked to her. I think she'd panic if you or I tried to explain it to her."  
  
"Yeah, probably."  
  
"Here, I'll give him the phone. He wanted to talk to you, too."   
  
"Okay. See you soon."  
  
"You bet." Xander nodded to Giles and handed him the phone. His stomach was growling again, so he decided Giles could argue with Buffy in private. "I'll be in the other room, raiding the refrigerator."   
  
Giles had been right the other night; there wasn't a lot of food in the house, but Xander found the bread and the leftover chicken from the dinner Giles had made. and got to work making sandwiches. Once they were piled up on a plate, he went back to looking for something to go with them. "Aha," he announced to himself, reaching into a cupboard to pull something out, "we have achieved..." He frowned at the package. "Roast chicken flavored potato chips. Leave it to the English to ruin perfectly good junk food." He stuffed the package back in the cupboard.   
  
He gave up on finding anything to go with the sandwiches, figuring Giles had had enough time to convince Buffy that Dawn would be perfectly safe, and picked up the plate of food.   
  
"Yes, all right," Giles was saying. "Andrew will give you the details once he's arranged the flight." He was silent for a moment, listening, and then he sounded a little less businesslike as he said, "It will be good to see you, as well." Another pause, and then he said his goodbyes and hung up the phone.   
  
"They're coming," Xander said.   
  
"Yes, although Buffy makes no promises about the demon's survival should it succeed in putting a single scratch on Dawn." He smiled. "I had no difficulty in agreeing to that."   
  
"That's fair," Xander said, handing Giles a sandwich and sitting down on the far end of the couch. "I'd be very happy to kill its ass in that case too."  
  
"Yes, I agree," Giles said. "I hope--" He was interrupted when Andrew came back into the room, eyes still bright red.  
  
"Sorry, I was--" He looked over his shoulder and shrugged. "I haven't finished checking my office, but..."  
  
He'd obviously been crying, Xander had no doubt of that. He patted the couch, and Andrew sat down. "Come on, Andrew, you have to eat. You're an important part of our plan, we need you."   
  
Andrew looked up at him, and blinked. "Really? I mean, you're not just saying that to get me to eat, are you?"  
  
Xander shook his head, looking over at Giles for confirmation. "No, we really need you right now. We have to get Dawn and Buffy a flight without anyone finding out that Buffy's coming too."  
  
"Okay," Andrew agreed, picking up a sandwich and biting into it.  
  
Giles and Xander looked at each other over his head. "We need to call York," Giles said. He picked up the phone again, but put it down beside him instead of dialing. "Andrew, I'll need you to keep looking for that bug, or anything else that could be a clue to who is responsible for leaking the information."  
  
Andrew nodded, swallowing before he answered. "Okay, Captain, I can do that as soon as I've booked the flight and called Buffy, I guess."  
  
"You shouldn't do that in your office, though," Xander said quickly. "Just in case the bug's there, or whoever the spy is turns up while you're doing it. I'll get my laptop when I'm done eating so you can get stuff done in here."  
  
"Good idea." Andrew took another bite.  
  
They ate in silence for a few minutes, and then, done, Giles stood up with the phone and his plate in hand. "I'll call York right now. Perhaps I should have him come to the school to set up the meeting with his new--" He grinned, and Xander thought he looked just a little like an evil mastermind. It wasn't a bad look on Giles at all. "--colleague."  
  
York wouldn't like that thought much, Xander knew; he couldn't wait to see York's face when that meeting happened.   
  


***

  
  
  
Giles put his plate down in the sink, and then dialed the London office from memory. "Hello Theresa," he said to the receptionist who answered. "May I speak to Mr. York, please? Thank you." He waited while the call was put through. "York, I'm glad that you're still in the office, I've something I need to ask you."  
  
"Oh, hello, Mr. Giles," York said, sounding none too pleased. "What can I do for you?"  
  
"It's in relation to Mrs. Bishop's accident."  
  
"You don't quit, do you? I've told you all I know about it."  
  
"Oh, I'm aware of that," Giles said, trying to keep himself from sounding too angry. York couldn't know that they were on to him. "I was simply thinking that it's a lot of work to manage all the research on your own. I've been evaluating a prospective researcher's skills, as you know, and I've decided to hire her while Mrs. Bishop recovers."  
  
"Hire her?" York repeated. "Couldn't you transfer someone?"  
  
"You know as well as I do that we're short-handed."  
  
"One of the older students, then. It would be a good experience for them. There's no need to keep bringing in outsiders."   
  
"Miss Summers is hardly an outsider."  
  
"Summers? Surely--Mr. Giles, the point is to  _read_  the books, not  _kill_  them, and while what happened to Mrs. Bishop is terrible, I don't think there's enough danger for you to bring a Slayer in as my assistant."   
  
"Not Buffy," Giles said. "Her sister, Dawn. I'm hiring her as your research assistant on a temporary basis; once she finishes her education, I believe she'll make a fine Watcher."   
  
"She's not a Watcher," York argued.   
  
"Neither are the students here, and you were willing to accept one of them as your assistant."  
  
"They're at least being trained!"   
  
Now Giles could let his anger come through in his voice. "If Dawn accepts the position, she'll come here for training during her school breaks until she finishes university. A final year of training here, followed by supervised field work, and she'll be as well-prepared as any new Watcher can be. And, at the moment, she'll be filling in for Mrs. Bishop, assuming she accepts the offer. It will be, as you say, a good experience for her."   
  
He could envision York's face going red with anger and frustration. "And I'll be saddled with an assistant who doesn't know anything!"  
  
Giles struggled to keep a reasonable tone in his voice as he replied. "As I'm quite certain you won't take my word for it, you're welcome to see for yourself how well-trained she is. When she arrives, I'll give you the opportunity to evaluate her research skills."  
  
"And if she isn't up to par?"  
  
"Then of course I won't expect you to accept her as your assistant," Giles said smoothly. "She'll remain here, working with me."   
  
"I suppose I'll have to meet her then," York grumbled.  
  
"As a matter of fact, she's flying in tomorrow, and I'd like you to meet her as soon as possible. Perhaps you might come here to meet with her?" Giles asked, although he knew full well York wouldn't agree unless Giles made it sound final.  
  
"Tomorrow? It won't be possible, I'm afraid," York answered.  
  
"Of course. I apologize for the short notice. I'll see you in my office the day after tomorrow," Giles said, tone inviting no arguments.  
  
"I suppose I have no choice in the matter." York grunted. "I'll see you, and your Miss Summers, in two days. Although, I must say again how unnecessary this is, Mr. Giles."  
  
Giles shook his head. "I'm sure you'll find Dawn has all the qualities needed to be your research assistant. I look forward to the interview. Good day, Mr. York." He hung up the phone, not giving York the time to argue further.  
  
Xander stuck his head through the doorway a moment later. "If you have a problem with eavesdropping, we can pretend I wasn't listening," he said.   
  
Giles looked up, giving him a slight smile. "If York is involved--" Xander opened his mouth to speak, and Giles held up his hand, silencing him. "No, I really don't have any doubts about that by now, but I'm a firm believer in giving the man enough rope to hang himself. If York is involved in this, there's no way he'll fail to act now that I've just, from his point of view, insulted him--quite apart from the fact that, if this is, as Andrew thinks, directed at me, or at least at the way I'm running the Council...."  
  
"They'll definitely go after Dawn," Xander said. "They'll think that if they attack Dawn, that might be the thing to make you quit." He shook his head. "They so don't know you."   
  
"Apparently not," Giles agreed. "York knows that Dawn should be arriving tomorrow, though not precisely when." Then he frowned. "If Andrew is making the travel arrangements using your computer, how will they know when to expect her?"   
  
"I'm pretty sure his office isn't bugged. I mean, we didn't find anything in your office, and if I were planting just one bug, it'd be there." Xander sighed, then lowered his voice. "I'm kind of leaning toward Andrew being our leak."  
  
"Andrew has become a great deal more reliable lately," Giles said. He hadn't forgotten how they'd become acquainted with Andrew in the first place, but it  _did_  seem that Andrew had rather decisively thrown his lot in with the Council.   
  
"I don't mean like that," Xander said. "I mean, okay, I  _could_  have thought that a couple of days ago, but I don't know if Andrew would have planned an attack on Gregory. And I'm  _sure_  he couldn't fake being this upset."  
  
"Then what do you mean?"  
  
"Andrew talks," Xander said. "There are people in and out of his office all day, and he talks to all of them. If one of them is involved in this, they'd know everything we're doing." He grinned at Giles. "Considering that you don't even read your own e-mail, they'd know what you were doing before  _you_  do."  
  
Giles sighed, but smiled back. "I supposed you might be right," he said. "I don't like the idea of Andrew being our leak, but it sounds logical."  
  
"Yeah, I don't like it either, and I  _don't_  think it's intentional, but--it's possible." Xander walked in further into the room and leaned against the counter.  
  
Giles did the same, crossing his arms over his chest. It was a bit strange how the tension between them had vanished the moment they'd had something else to think about. Giles tried his best to remember who he saw most coming in and out of Andrew's office, but he was drawing a blank.   
  
"Whoever it is that's getting the information is probably someone that's in and out of here a lot," Xander continued. "Someone Andrew would see so often that he would think they're completely trustworthy."  
  
"The staff are in and out of the office all day," Giles thought out loud, frowning.  
  
"It has to be someone who would have ties to the old Council--"  
  
"Not necessarily," Giles countered. "Although, perhaps you're right on this as well, since someone new might be interested in the old way things were run, but I doubt they'd be accepted by whoever is running this..." He frowned again. "Marjorie Garner--she teaches history; I don't know that you've met her--was in Andrew's office two days ago when I mentioned that Gregory would need a flight home." He was trying to remember exactly what he'd said. He was certain he hadn't mentioned a specific timeframe. "I wouldn't jump to conclusions, but it would be a fairly good example of how careless I too have been."  
  
"But if she's not a Watcher--"  
  
Giles shook his head. "All the teachers here have  _some_  connection to the Council--if they aren't Watchers themselves, they tend to be the children or spouses--or widows, in many cases--of Watchers. Mrs. Garner had retired from active duty to raise her children, but she's been a Watcher for over twenty years."   
  
Xander sighed. "So I guess this could be another 'we can't be sure' with a side of 'strongly suspect'."  
  
Giles chuckled. "Yes, that's certainly one way to put it." He sobered up quickly. "At this time, though, we don't need to prove who the mole is, simply make certain that no more information is leaked out for the foreseeable future. If our plan works, this should be resolved in the next few days."  
  
"I'm really hoping you didn't just jinx us right there." Xander pushed away from the counter, and stretched. "I guess we keep an eye on Garner and make sure Andrew doesn't leak the Buffy information. Then all there is left to do is wait."  
  
Giles nodded. Waiting would be the hardest part, he imagined. Trying to go on with their work without letting on how worried they were. Perhaps he should try to talk to Xander as well.  
  
He sighed. This wasn't a conversation he wanted to have, but they did need to clear the air between them. "I owe you an apology for that discussion earlier," he began.   
  
Xander shook his head. "I'm not saying I'm thrilled you didn't take me seriously, but the important thing is that we stop these attacks."  
  
"Not--well, yes, for that, in part, but not completely. I meant for--for the way I ended the conversation. It was... inappropriate," he concluded, wishing for a better way to phrase it.   
  
"Inappropriate," Xander repeated dully. "Yeah, I get it." He shrugged, not meeting Giles' eyes. "Don't worry about it." And with that, the awkwardness seemed to return between them.   
  
Giles shook his head. "Inappropriate," he clarified, "in the sense that I should never have attempted to use kissing you as a means to end an argument."  
  
"So why did you?" Xander asked, a little more animation in his tone now. "I mean, 'shut up, Xander,' has always worked okay for you before without the added lip action."  
  
That was where it all became complicated, and Giles took a moment to choose his words carefully. "I don't know," he confessed. "At least, I don't know why I chose to do it then, or under those circumstances."  
  
Xander looked up at him, frowning. "So... what? You're trying to tell me you'd rather have done it some other time?"  
  
"Well, yes," Giles said, surprised that Xander was even asking. After the past few days, after Giles had kissed him, whatever the circumstances, surely Xander couldn't be unaware that Giles had  _wanted_  to?   
  
"I--uh," Xander said, dumbfounded. "I had no idea." He looked as if he wished he could reply to that, but he just stood there.  
  
Giles sighed and looked down. "I wish it had happened under other circumstances, unless it wouldn't have been welcome," he said, eyes drifting back up to Xander's face.  
  
"I don't know," Xander replied, shaking his head. "I don't know if it would have been welcome, because all I can think of right now is that you used it to shut me up." He sighed. "Can we just--forget it happened that way? I don't know if I can, but I'd like to try."  
  
Giles frowned, unsure if he was following Xander or not. "I'm not sure I understand."  
  
Xander stepped forward, and took a deep breath. "I'm saying that maybe you should try again, another time, when you're not annoyed at me, or--or when you're not using kissing as a way to make me stop saying stuff you don't want to hear."  
  
"Xander, that's not--" Giles tried to explain.  
  
"I think you're missing the point here," Xander said firmly, interrupting him. "I don't care why you did it, but one day, when we're not in the middle of a huge conspiracy that's aimed at you, and when I'm not talking your ear off--then, and, you know,  _only_  then, do it again." He shrugged, looking away. "I don't know how I feel about it right now, because, I just--I can't think about it without remembering that you did it the first time because you were annoyed with me. But if you really want to find out whether or not it'd be welcome... do it again later."  
  
A bit stunned, Giles nodded. "Of course," he said softly. "I understand." He didn't, not completely, but he could grasp the main idea. Xander  _wanted_  him to kiss him again. Not here, not now, and possibly not for a few more days, but once things had settled down, perhaps...  
  
Xander shrugged again. "I'm not a hundred percent sure  _I_  understand," he said. "But... yeah, I mean, it's forgiven, I'm not going to hate you for doing it or anything, but as far as doing it again... if it's going to happen at all, it needs to be some other time. Some time when I can be sure you're  _not_  doing it for any reason other than that you want to."   
  
"Yes, of course," Giles repeated, wishing again that he hadn't given in to that impulse to kiss Xander.   
  
"Okay," Xander said, finally looking up at him again and giving him a slight smile. "And, uh, don't take this the wrong way," he began, "but I'm going to be hanging out with the girls until about time for Operation Buffy Kicks Demon Ass. Not," he added quickly before Giles could speak, "because I'm avoiding you, but just because I don't know how much longer I'll be here after this is all over, or when I'll be back, and I want to make sure they're settled in here and doing okay before I leave."  
  
Giles wanted to argue, wanted, selfishly, to point out that he didn't know how much more time  _they_  would be spending together before he left, as well, but he couldn't actually fault Xander for being a good Watcher. He smiled. "I think they'd appreciate that," he said, just as he heard Andrew's voice from the next room.   
  
"Should I come back later to make those arrangements for Dawn?" Andrew called, and Giles shook his head.   
  
It was time for them to get back to work.   
  


***


	9. Chapter 9

Dawn was going to be fine.   
  
Xander knew that. She had Buffy with her, and there was no way Buffy was going to let a demon get past her to her little sister. And Dawn knew what to expect, so she wouldn't be taken by surprise. Besides that, there were four of the older Slayers from the school stationed at the airport--three secretly, and Julia--the girl who'd done the sketch of the demon for them--who Giles thought was a reliable driver, meeting them at baggage claim.   
  
Dawn would be in the car with not one, but two Slayers, and Xander, Catherine, and Océane were waiting for a call from Julia so they could pull onto the road and follow them back to the school. There was  _another_  group of Slayers stationed a couple of miles from the school, too, in case there was trouble there, and Giles was waiting at the school.   
  
Even if most of the Slayers still thought this was some kind of training exercise--the girls who did have some idea what was going on had been encouraged not to talk about it--Dawn was as well-protected as she could possibly be.   
  
His cell phone rang then, and Catherine answered it for him; Xander had given her the phone, feeling more comfortable if he helped Océane keep an eye out for trouble. Giles had tried to tell him that if the demons were targeting Watchers, he'd be putting himself at risk, but it wasn't like Xander didn't know that. It wasn't like Giles wouldn't have been out here himself if he hadn't been responsible for a whole school full of kids, either.   
  
"Hello?" Catherine listened carefully for a moment or two, and then said, "All right. I'll tell Mr. Harris. Thank you." She snapped his phone shut and handed it to him. "They've got the car. It's a blue Volkswagen, and they're going out to the car park now. They should be here in a quarter of an hour, maybe twenty minutes."  
  
"Thanks, Catherine." Xander took a deep breath, turning to look at both girls. "Ready?"   
  
"Yep," Catherine replied, holding her sword in her hand. Océane only gave a short nod, keeping her eyes on the road.  
  
Xander took a deep breath, and let it out slowly. Just a few more minutes, and then the fun would start. He just hoped York, or anybody from  _that_  side, hadn't been told about the Slayers they'd pulled out of class for this. Everybody had been told it was a training exercise, but Xander had this voice in his head telling him it was very easy to make the connection between the exercise and Dawn's arrival, and that someone with half a brain would know it wasn't just a coincidence.  
  
They probably wouldn't have time to react and call the attack back, though, even if they did make the connection.  
  
"They are here," Océane said, pointing at a blue car on the road.  
  
With a nod, Xander turned the key in the ignition. He waited until the car had passed them before pulling onto the road behind them. "Okay, then, let's get this party started."  
  
Following a car on a busy highway looked a lot easier in the movies than it actually  _was_ , it turned out. At least Xander could keep an eye on the sticker from the rental-car company, so he didn't get confused by any similar-looking cars. Then he started to worry. They weren't that far from Heathrow. Lots of people would have rented cars. Lots of people would be driving little blue rental cars.   
  
He'd just about worked himself into freaking out that he'd screwed up and put Dawn in danger when he realized that he could see Dawn in the back seat of that particular car. She turned around then, even, and he got a glimpse of her face as she studied the traffic behind them before Buffy turned around as well, tugging Dawn's arm until she settled back into her seat. Probably a good move; they didn't want anyone to think she was  _expecting_  to be followed.   
  
Not that Xander was expecting trouble  _yet_. Too much traffic, too many people around. No, he was pretty sure York and the rest of that side would wait until they got closer to the school, on one of the roads that was mostly deserted during the day. Right now, all he had to do was make sure he didn't lose the car in traffic.   
  
When they hit the quieter roads, though, Xander asked the girls to keep an eye out for trouble, and he kept close to the rental car.  
  
"You should let them go ahead," Catherine said, putting a hand on his arm.  
  
"I'm sorry? I'm not about to let them out of my sight," he argued, and then he frowned. Maybe she had a point.  
  
"The demon won't come out if it thinks there's more people out here than just Dawn," Catherine explained.  
  
"Catherine is right," Océane said, hand clenching and unclenching on her sword. She kept her eyes on the road, and this was the first time she'd talked since telling them the car was there.  
  
Xander slowed down the car and stopped on the side of the road, nodding. "You're probably right." He waited until the rental car had almost disappeared from view to get back on the road. Apart from them, there was nobody around. Xander tapped the steering wheel anxiously with the tips of his fingers, and bit his lip. "This is not nerve-wracking at all. Nope."  
  
Catherine gave a light chuckle and shook her head. "There!" she yelled, pointing at the road ahead of them.  
  
Xander's heartbeat quickened at the panic in her tone, and he blinked. At first, he couldn't see it, but then--"Dammit!" He pushed on the accelerator and heard the girls pick up their weapons. The demon had come out of the woods and was running towards the blue car. Xander was pretty sure the girls in there hadn't seen it yet, because they weren't slowing down or stopping, and it wouldn't be long before the demon reached the car.  
  
In the rear-view mirror, Xander could see Catherine covering her face; he heard the blue car's tires squeal as Julia apparently noticed the demon and slammed on the brakes. Holding his breath, he watched as it skidded off the road onto the grass, only daring to breathe again when he saw it come to a stop with everyone in it apparently unharmed.   
  
Both the front doors opened, and Buffy and Julia both came out of the car, weapons raised. Xander pulled up a few yards behind them, turning to look at the girls. "Your job," he reminded them, "is to get Dawn back here." They nodded, but he went on. "That's your  _only_  job," he said firmly. "Let Buffy and Julia handle the demon; they've been training longer. You two just get Dawn and get her back here." He hated sending them out like this, but he needed to stay behind the wheel, keeping the engine running and his foot on the brake so that they could pull away the second Dawn and the girls were safely in the car.   
  
"We know," Catherine said, and the two of them got out.   
  
Xander didn't know where to look; he didn't  _want_  to look at any of it. The demon smashed through the rear window of the car; he saw Dawn rapidly slide to the other side of the car and then emerge, crouching down behind the car, as Buffy attacked the demon, hacking at it with her sword but hampered by her need to keep the thing alive.   
  
Catherine and Océane made for Dawn's side of the car, keeping their weapons ready, as Julia moved to the demon's other side, keeping it trapped between the two Slayers. Then he saw Dawn come out from behind the car, Catherine and Océane on either side of her, flanking her protectively. Dawn, he saw, was holding a dagger; Xander wondered how much she'd had to argue with Buffy before her sister had let her arm herself. He was glad she had, though; it might not be much, but it could buy her a second or two, long enough for one of the Slayers to get to her if things went wrong.   
  
And then, horrified, he watched as the demon pushed Julia aside, lunging for Dawn; Océane slashed at it with her sword, but was knocked away as well, her weapon falling to the ground. Xander could see her sleeve turning red with blood and felt sick. What was he doing? She was a  _kid_.   
  
Julia was back on her feet now, driving the demon toward the road again, and Catherine and Dawn started running for the car. As soon as Dawn was inside, Catherine turned back, running to help Océane to the car.   
  
"You okay, Dawn?" Xander asked, not looking away from the two girls making their way back to the car.   
  
"I'm good," Dawn said, just as Océane slid into the back seat, her hand clamped over her injured arm. Catherine followed, slamming the door shut.   
  
Xander didn't drive off yet, not wanting to leave Buffy and Julia battling the thing even though he was pretty sure the demon wouldn't put up much of a fight once Dawn was gone. Besides, two Slayers against one demon put the odds firmly on the Slayers' side.   
  
"I could help them," Catherine said from the back seat.   
  
"No, you could  _not_ ," Xander said, worry making his voice sharper than he would have liked. "Help Ocean."  
  
Dawn was already on the job, using the dagger she'd been carrying to cut the sleeve of Océane's blouse open. "It's not too bad," she reported. "There's a lot of blood, but it looks pretty shallow."  
  
Océane seemed preoccupied, looking outside the car, past the fight still going on. "My sword," she began, gesturing with her good arm toward the sword still lying on the ground. "It belongs to the school."  
  
"Screw the sword," Xander said, knowing Giles would probably give him hell for sounding that unprofessional in front of the girls. He didn't care. "We'll come back for it later," he added, as Buffy turned around to look at them.   
  
"We're fine," she shouted. "Get Dawn out of here, now!"   
  
As the demon began lumbering toward their car, taking advantage of Buffy's momentary distraction, Xander decided that she was right; now was the time to floor it. "Hold on tight," he warned the girls, swerving around the demon and speeding off down the road.   
  
He'd just gotten far enough away that he'd decided to follow the speed limit again when his phone rang. He picked it up and tossed it back to Catherine. "You're on phone duty again," Xander said. "I don't think I need to be distracted."   
  
Catherine caught the phone and answered it. "This is Mr. Harris' phone," she said, listening for a moment. Then, sounding more animated, she said, "Good! No, no, she will be fine," glancing over at Océane, who was holding the sweater from her school uniform against her injured arm. "I'll tell him. Thank you." She clicked the phone shut, beaming. "Miss Summers--"  
  
"Buffy," Xander corrected her. "She's not going to let you call her 'Miss Summers.'"   
  
Catherine continued, unperturbed. "She says to tell you that they have the demon, and will be bringing it back to the school as soon as Mr. Giles sends someone to pick them up. It's too big for the car."   
  
"Great," Xander said, his heartbeat beginning to slow down to normal again.   
  
They were back on school grounds soon, and Xander parked the car close to Giles' home. Giles and Andrew were already hurrying down the steps when Xander got out of the car, and opened the door for Océane and Dawn to get out. "Did Buffy call you?" he asked Giles.   
  
He nodded. "She told me that one of the girls was hurt?" Then, when he saw Océane, he frowned. "Is she all right?"   
  
"Just a scratch!" Dawn replied, walking over to them and pulling Giles into a hug. "It might need a few stitches, but she'll be okay."  
  
Giles nodded at that, although Xander could tell he was worried. "Is anyone else injured?" he asked.  
  
"Not as far as I know; Buffy didn't mention anything on the phone, so I don't think so," Xander said, still unable to relax. It had gone down too fast, after twenty-four hours of pent up anxiety, and he was finding it very hard to let go of it. He really, seriously, wanted to touch Giles right now. Bad idea.  
  
"Should I go get Buffy?" Andrew asked, coming over to them as Océane and Dawn walked inside.  
  
"I'd rather you didn't go alone," Giles began.  
  
Catherine interrupted him. "I'll go with him."  
  
Xander shook his head. "Better not."  
  
"I know how to fight," she argued, crossing her arms. "Miss Summers--"  
  
"Buffy."  
  
She rolled her eyes at him, and turned to Giles instead. "Miss Summers and Julia are there, so we'll be fine."  
  
Giles shook his head. "I'd rather send a retrieval team."  
  
Xander didn't think that was a good idea, at all. "You'd have to let them know what was going on, and what if--" He stopped himself, looking at Catherine and then shaking his head. He couldn't really say what he'd meant, which was that there was a good chance anyone they'd contact for this could let the information slip to someone they didn't want to know, and that would be bad, but he was sure Giles understood. "Andrew and Catherine can do this, it's just a twenty-minute drive each way, and I don't think there're any more demons lurking."  
  
"I hate to say it, but you're right about the retrieval team," Giles said. He dug into his pocket for a key and handed it to Andrew. "Be careful, please."  
  
"Sure thing, Captain."   
  
"Ocean's sword," Xander said. "She was upset about leaving it behind--"  
  
"I'll get it," Catherine said, and she and Andrew hurried away.   
  
Giles sighed. "I truly despise this situation."  
  
"Yeah, I hear you." Now that they were alone, Xander couldn't stop himself from reaching out and touching Giles' arm. Thankfully, Giles didn't say anything about it, and Xander squeezed. "We should--" he said, then cleared his throat. "We should go inside, make sure Ocean's okay."  
  
Giles smiled, shaking his head. "When this is behind us--"  
  
"I know, we need to talk."  
  
"We do, but that wasn't what I was going to say," Giles admitted, brushing his fingers against Xander's wrist.  
  
Xander blushed, although he couldn't tell whether it was from Giles' words, or from his touch. Probably both. "Okay--what was it?"  
  
"I know we've talked about this before," Giles said. "But I think you should give serious thought to language lessons."  
  
Xander frowned at him. "Where did that come from?"   
  
Giles sighed. "Her name is Océane."   
  
"That's what I've been saying," he said, still frowning. "Or at least, trying to say."  
  
"Which is why I think you should take at least some basic language classes," Giles said. "It would help you to communicate with Slayers like Océane, and since you're frequently in western Africa, French might--"  
  
"I took French in high school," he pointed out. "Two years. And I passed both of them."   
  
"Your junior year," Giles said, "I'm well aware you had a substitute for the entire second semester because the school couldn't find a replacement on short notice."  
  
"Yeah," Xander said. "That was great. Um, not the part where Buffy had to stake our real teacher, but the part where we mostly watched movies." He paused. "And okay, you might have a point about the French."   
  
Giles nodded. "We'll talk about it further once this is all settled."   
  
Great. School. Xander had thought he was completely done with that. But if Giles was going to keep bringing it up--well, Xander knew that hints from your boss were more than just helpful suggestions, and no matter what Giles' fingers on his wrist were doing to Xander's heart rate, Giles was still his boss. "I'm not going to be in class with Niki," Xander warned him.  
  
"Nkiruka," Giles said, "is already in the intermediate level language classes."   
  
Oh,  _that_  was going to be fun when she found out.   
  
"Of course," Giles continued, "it would also be possible for you to get a tutor instead of attending classes."  
  
"Really?" That sounded a little bit better. It would be kind of humiliating to have to attend classes with the kids--who weren't really kids, but were at least younger than Xander was. "I think that would be a better idea, actually, you know, for my credibility? They--well, I'm supposed to be a Watcher, and if I'm studying with them... isn't that weird?"  
  
"Perhaps, at least in the sense that the younger students, especially, don't need to start seeing you as a peer." Giles started walking towards the front door, and held it open for Xander. "Do you want me to find you one? A tutor, I mean."  
  
"I think we should go with your first idea, and wait till this whole thing has blown over," Xander replied, walking past Giles and into the house. "I don't even know how long I'll be in England after that."  
  
Giles nodded thoughtfully, following Xander into the kitchen where Dawn was already patching up Océane. "How is it?"  
  
"Not too bad," Dawn said, nose scrunched up in concentration. "It stopped bleeding, so we don't need to get any professional help, I don't think."  
  
Océane seemed a little pale when she looked at Xander. "Is it okay? She can do the--the thing?"  
  
"Stitches?" Xander asked, pulling a chair and sitting closer to Océane's and taking her hand in his. "Yeah, don't worry, she has plenty of experience patching us all up."  
  
"We all do," Dawn added, still very intent on what she was doing.  
  
"When she's done," Giles said, softly. "You should go lie down. I don't think you lost too much blood, but it's always a good idea to keep your strength up."  
  
"And with the Slayer constitution, you'll be better in no time." Xander grinned, happy when it made her smile.  
  
"Okay," Océane said, nodding.  
  
Dawn sighed, and straightened up. "There, done. You should be fine, trooper."  
  
Xander chuckled and looked at Giles with a smile. Giles was bringing over a glass of water and handing it to Océane, who took it, hands still shaking a bit. Xander knew she had fought demons before; Catherine had talked about at least one time when they'd gone training/hunting together, but this must have been different just from Océane's reaction. The size of the demon itself was kind of impressive, and Xander was pretty sure that their Watcher wouldn't have let them train by hunting demons that size. At least, not yet. "Go rest now, okay?"  
  
Giles nodded. "Dawn, would you help Océane back to the dormitories? You and Buffy will stay here, of course, but I'd appreciate it if you'd walk Océane back and get her settled."  
  
"Actually," Dawn said, "I was kind of planning on checking if they had a spare bed for me there." She grinned. "If I'm going to be coming here for training, I might as well get used to it."  
  
"You just don't want to have to share a room with Buffy," Xander said. While there were a lot of bedrooms in Giles' house, most of them had been made into storage space or offices long before Giles ever moved in, and Giles had converted all the remaining ground-floor rooms when he'd started using the house as the main Council offices. There were only three rooms still furnished as bedrooms, and with Xander staying in one, Buffy and Dawn would have to stay in the other.   
  
"Nobody should have to look at my sister first thing in the morning," Dawn said, still grinning at him. "So maybe it's both. But that's okay, right, Giles?"   
  
Giles nodded. "I believe there'll be room for you," he said. Xander kind of hoped there was. They'd need Buffy around to help them try to question the demon, and he'd feel a lot better about Dawn knowing she was in a dorm packed full of Slayers.   
  
It took Buffy and the others close to an hour to get back. Then there was the slight problem of finding a room for that huge  _thing_  they brought with them. Andrew was the one to find a solution to that problem when he pointed out that they did have a perfectly acceptable basement they could use. No one ever went down there because it was, well, creepy, but that worked for keeping a demon.  
  
The demon was out cold, and Giles pointed out that it might be a while before it gained consciousness again, so everyone made their way back into the study, except Julia, who got the first watch.  
  
"Where's Dawn?" Buffy asked.  
  
Xander closed the door when he realized that Andrew and Catherine weren't following them. "At the dorms," he replied, slumping down on the couch next to Giles. "She took Ocean there and said she'd see if they had an empty bed for her to sleep in, so I guess she's settling in for now." Then he frowned. "We didn't tell you when you got in?"  
  
"No," she smiled, sitting down on the chair closest to them and patting Xander's hand. "But it's okay, we had something else on our minds. I just thought she was waiting inside."  
  
Giles nodded. "Mrs. Cheever will make sure she's settled all right. I don't think we'll get anything out of that demon for a few more hours." He leaned his elbows on his knees. "She'll be back."  
  
The door opened slowly and they all turned to it. "Mr. Wells said he's going to try to cook something for us to eat," Catherine said, popping her head in the doorway. "I'll help him."  
  
Xander was waiting for Giles to say something, but Giles stayed quiet, and looked at him instead. Which is when Xander realized Catherine was actually looking at  _him_  and not Giles. "Oh, uh, okay, no problem." Catherine gave a short nod, and left, closing the door again behind her.  
  
" _Mr. Wells_?" Buffy asked, trying not to laugh too hard.  
  
"It's a Giles thing." Xander shrugged. Buffy's laugh was contagious, and he found himself chuckling with her.  
  
"A  _Giles_  thing?" Giles frowned, turning to Xander with a little smile on his lips. "I simply think all the students need to be respectful."  
  
"But it's... it's  _Andrew_." Buffy kept chuckling for a moment, making both Giles and Xander smile, and then finally sobered up. "Nah, I get why you want them to use the Mr. thing. It's just weird to hear him called 'Mr.' anything."  
  
"I don't know," Xander said. "He's actually doing a pretty good job, especially with how upset he is."  
  
"Upset?" Buffy asked.  
  
"Yeah, he and Gregory--they were kinda close. It really hit him hard."  
  
"I'm impressed that he's been able to keep it together today, actually," Giles added, pinching his nose. "He was quite a mess yesterday."  
  
Xander nodded. "That's probably why he's cooking. As long as he keeps moving and doing stuff, he won't be thinking about it, and he won't break down."  
  
Buffy slumped back against the chair. "Mmm, makes sense. So... what do  _we_  do now?"  
  
"We wait," Giles said, sighing. "While the demon's unconscious, there's not a lot we  _can_  do."  
  
"And after that?" she said. "Because I'm telling you, I don't really think it speaks English."   
  
"Its masters, or employers, must have some way of communicating with it," Giles said. "Either it speaks some other human language, or it speaks a demonic language common enough that someone on the Council speaks it."   
  
"Someone we can't trust," Xander pointed out. "That's not a lot of help."   
  
Giles shook his head. "I think we may be all right," he said. "Ruth Cheever's fluency in  _human_  languages is only due to her field assignments when she was younger. Her actual specialty was in demonic languages."   
  
"And we can trust her?" Buffy said.   
  
Xander nodded. "Yeah. We're pretty sure she's one of the good guys. If she has a problem with Giles, she'd probably just smack his hand with a ruler and send him to bed without supper." At Buffy's raised eyebrow, he went on, "You've met her. She's in charge of the girls' dorm? Kind of scary, especially if you're a sixteen-year-old Slayer or Watcherette breaking curfew, but we trust her."   
  
"That's good." Buffy sat up straighter and grabbed one of the books they'd been researching in and had left on the table. "So we keep busy until he wakes up again."  
  
"Yep, I guess that's the plan," Xander said, and he groaned, rubbing the skin under his eye. "Maybe a nap would be a good thing."  
  
Giles chuckled and shook his head. "I'll give Mrs. Cheever a call and have her meet us here as soon as she can. Dawn should be back by then, I imagine."  
  
"Good plan," Xander agreed, putting his feet on the couch and lying down as soon as Giles was up. "Let us know how that goes."  
  
With another shake of his head, Giles smiled at Xander, and left.  
  
"What's up with you and Giles?" Buffy asked. When Xander looked up, she still had her nose in the book, and she didn't look like she was actually waiting for him to answer.  
  
He lay back against the arm of the couch, and put his arm over his eyes. "What do you mean?"  
  
"I don't know," she said. "It's not that you're acting weirder than usual or anything, but there's like, uh, some kind of tension or something. Figured you had a fight or something."  
  
"A fight," Xander repeated, trying to figure out whether he should agree or not. It was kind of true, but he thought whatever had happened between him and Giles was a lot more complicated than that. "No," he decided finally. "We didn't. There's just... you know, tension. Because of people getting killed, and demons on campus, and stuff."  
  
Buffy gave him a slight smile. "Because that's totally unlike anything either of you has had to deal with before."  
  
She had a point. "Yeah, but Giles is responsible for everybody, this time. It leads to stress." He smiled back at her.   
  
"So everything's okay?"  
  
"Yeah," Xander lied. "Apart from the Watcher-killing demon in the basement, and the thing where half the Council is apparently staging a coup and me being responsible for a  _tiny little Slayer_ , everything's great." Or, well, it would be, anyway, once all of this was over and they had a chance to think. And the tension that had sprung up between him and Giles was, well. Xander knew exactly what it was, but they could get all of that straightened out  _after_ nobody was trying to kill them.   
  
"Okay," Buffy said, in a voice that made it pretty clear she didn't actually believe him.   
  
"You know," Xander said, deciding it was time to change the subject, "I was going to try to get you and Dawn over here for a visit while I was here, anyway."   
  
"You could have just asked," she said, smiling again. "Or, you know--here's a crazy thought--you could have taken some time off and come to see us in Rome."   
  
Xander shook his head. "I wanted to spend a couple of weeks at home," he said. Then, realizing what he'd just said, he added, "Um, here, I mean. Which is about as close to 'home' as I get, home being a hole in the ground. I don't stay in one place long enough to feel at home in Africa."   
  
She looked at him again, nodding. "So this is home," she said.   
  
Hadn't he just been wondering about that? It looked like he'd just answered his own question. "Yeah," he said. "I guess it is."  
  
"That's good. Rome is--it's not home, but it could be, you know."  
  
Xander nodded.  
  
There was a silence for a moment, and then Buffy said: "When do I get to meet that tiny Slayer of yours anyway? Niki, right?"  
  
"Probably very soon," Xander said with a smile. "She's never been very far from Catherine since we picked her and Ocean up in Johannesburg, so as soon as Niki hears that we're back, she'll show up." Especially since she'd want to know everything that had happened, in detail.   
  


***


	10. Chapter 10

Xander didn't really sleep, but for the next half-hour, he kept his eyes closed, trying to relax. He could hear Buffy turning the pages of the book she was reading, and the sound of Andrew and Catherine in the kitchen talking. Giles came back after a while and chatted with Buffy. And then Xander didn't remember what happened for the next few minutes, but when he opened his eye, the voices in the kitchen were louder, and Buffy was gone. He blinked and turned to Giles. "Was I sleeping?"  
  
"I don't know," Giles replied, putting down the papers he'd been reading, and smiling at him. "Were you?"  
  
Xander groaned and sat up, rubbing his eyes. "Very funny. But okay, that was a stupid question."  
  
Giles laughed. "Perhaps. Dinner should be ready. Dawn has just shown up, and I'm pretty certain that's Niki," he said, nodding at the window where they could see someone running towards the house.  
  
"Okay, I'll go open the door for her." Xander stood and stretched. He probably had needed that nap. He could feel Giles watching him as he left the room. Heart beating fast, he walked swiftly to the front door, and opened it before Niki could knock. "Hey you."  
  
"Xander! Mrs. Cheever said you were back, and I saw Océane, what happened? I want to know, please! Did you kill the demon? Can I see it? Did Catherine--"  
  
"Whoa, one question at a time." Then, realizing she'd just repeat all her questions on the doorstep, he added, "Just get in and let me close the door. Did Mrs. Cheever say you could come over?" He managed to get the door closed.  
  
"Yes, she said Mr. Giles said it was okay and that I could come. She said I can even eat here, isn't that cool?"  
  
"Awesome," Xander replied, leading her into the dining room.  
  
"Oh my God," Buffy said, turning to them. "She really  _is_  tiny."  
  
"Yep," Xander said proudly, patting Niki's head. "A mini-Slayer. I always wanted one of those."  
  
"Hey!" Niki looked up at Xander and rolled her eyes. "I might be tiny, but I can--"  
  
"I know you can, Niki, I'm just joking." He smiled at her, and she shook her head.  
  
"You know," she said, turning to Buffy defiantly, "I am totally stronger than you are." Xander had to put his hand on his mouth to keep from laughing.  
  
"Oh really?" Buffy asked, crouching down in front of her.  
  
"Yes, really."  
  
"I don't know, Niki," Xander said. "I think Buffy could best you in a fight."  
  
"Oh!" Niki said, letting her hands fall away from her hips. "Buffy... that's you? Everyone talks about you at school!"  
  
"Do they now?" Buffy took Niki's hand and pulled her over to the table so they could both sit down.  
  
"Yeah," Xander said, following their example and sitting in the chair next to Niki--which apparently meant he was also sitting next to Giles. He seriously needed to be more careful about those things; he was having enough trouble not thinking about Giles as it was. "Apparently, you're some sort of legend for every Slayer at the Academy. If you don't show up more often, you're going to be like the Loch Ness monster. Everyone will talk about you, but no one will ever be really sure you exist."  
  
Buffy laughed. "You'll have to show them pictures every now and then to prove I'm real."   
  
"Or sell them to the  _Weekly World News_ , " he said, grinning at her. With Niki on his left and Buffy on the other side, it was easy for him to angle himself in that direction and--mostly--ignore Giles. He could still hear him, of course, talking to Dawn. It sounded like Giles was serious about wanting her to help out while Mrs. Bishop was out of commission; he was talking about her duties and the instructors he wanted her to talk to while she was in England.   
  
Xander shifted a little more in his chair, turning back to Niki, who had started asking questions faster than Buffy could answer them.   
  
"Do you have your own sword? I don't. I have to use the ones in the training rooms. Do you fight lots of demons? There was a demon in my house. I killed it with my mother's big knife, but if I had a sword it would have been easier. You think I'm big enough to have a sword, don't you?"   
  
Xander looked up at Buffy, trying hard not to burst out laughing, both at Niki's constant stream of chatter and at the fact that Buffy looked like she was about to flee from the room. Luckily, the door to the kitchen swung open, and Catherine and Andrew came in. "Whoa," Xander said, waving a hand in front of Niki to get her attention when she didn't stop talking. "How about we let Buffy eat before you interrogate her?"  
  
Niki frowned for a minute, and Xander thought he was about to be pouted at. Then she asked, "What's 'interrogate'?"  
  
"Ask her a lot of questions," he said, just as, from the other side of her, Buffy said, "Torture me for information."  
  
Xander laughed. "That, too."   
  
They were halfway through the meal when there was a knock on the dining room door, and Mrs. Cheever walked in. Her mouth had that curve that Xander had started associating with her smiling, and she looked around. "Rupert, you said you needed my help."  
  
"Yes, Mrs. Cheever, please, sit," Giles said, standing up and pulling out an empty chair for her. "Would you like something to eat or drink?"  
  
"No, no," she replied, shaking her head. "I'm quite fine, thank you."  
  
Everyone was quiet around the table, even Niki, and they were all looking at Giles and Mrs. Cheever. Giles cleared his throat as he sat back into his chair. "I'll cut right to the chase. We have a demon situation."  
  
"I figured as much," Mrs. Cheever said. "I'm not going senile quite yet, and all those measures you've implemented in the past few days are suspicious, to say the least."  
  
Xander put down his fork. "We had to," he said. He looked around the table at everyone. These were people he'd trust with his life. "There's a conspiracy, against Giles and well, all of us, but mostly Giles. And we need to get information about it out of the demon that's chained in the basement."  
  
Mrs. Cheever looked at him, and blinked once. "Well, that was concise." She turned to Giles. "What kind of demon is it?"  
  
This time, it was Dawn who answered. Xander was going to have to assume that what she said was the name from the report she'd given them, because it mostly sounded like she was choking on something.   
  
"Dear God," Mrs. Cheever murmured, putting a hand in front of her mouth. "How on Earth did you manage to get your hands on one of those? I don't believe there's ever been any sightings of them in England."  
  
"But you do know of them?" Giles asked, pushing his plate away. Xander did the same; he wasn't hungry anymore.  
  
"Of course I do, I did some research on the peaceful tribes in northwestern Canada, several decades ago." She frowned slightly, and pushed her glasses up on her nose. "Their history is fascinating."  
  
"Yes, it is," Dawn said. "I never realized that demons could--"  
  
Before Dawn could get too much into the subject of the demons' history, Xander interrupted her. "I'm sure it's really interesting, but the one we have downstairs is definitely not peaceful."  
  
"We have reason to believe it's part of the exiled clan that moved further north," Giles added.  
  
"Yes, fascinating! When I did my research, we couldn't get anywhere near them," Mrs. Cheever said.  
  
"We think it was either hired, or is being controlled by someone intent on seeing me fail." Giles took an even more serious tone, and Mrs. Cheever lost the look of childlike curiosity on her face.  
  
"Both would be possible, from what I remember of their nature," she said. "I'd put my money on controlled, though, as they're quite--how should I say--impetuous and volatile. They could take whatever they are offered in exchange, and then disappear without doing the work, or kill their employer."  
  
Xander nodded. "That makes a whole lot of sense, actually. But we need to talk to it."  
  
"And that's where you come in," Giles added. "I imagine you're fluent in their language?"  
  
"I wouldn't call myself  _fluent_ , but I imagine I can make myself understood, yes."  
  
"Good," Buffy said, standing up and pushing her chair back. "I'll go downstairs to see Julia. It shouldn't be too long before it wakes up; it's been two hours already."  
  
"All right," Giles agreed. "Bring Catherine with you; we'll clean up here."  
  
"I wanna go too!" Niki jumped up from her chair. Xander had completely forgotten for a moment that she was there; he couldn't remember her ever being that quiet, unless she was sleeping. "I can beat it up, I know I can."  
  
"Niki--" Xander started, but Buffy interrupted him.  
  
"Let her come with, Xander, I'll keep an eye on her."  
  
"Okay," he conceded. He didn't like it, but she did need to get  _some_  experience, and the demon was chained  _and_  there were three more Slayers around; she'd be fine.  
  
And, he realized as Niki grabbed Buffy's hand and pulled her toward the door, calling for Catherine to hurry up, there was no way on earth he was keeping her upstairs without literally tying her to a chair, and that wouldn't work. He'd have to untie her eventually, and he did  _not_  like his chances against an annoyed little Slayer.   
  
"Dawn," Giles suggested, "why don't you take Mrs. Cheever into the other room and show her the research you've put together? I'd like to see what she thinks of it." Which, Xander realized, was as much about Dawn as about the demon, and was a pretty smart move. If some of the other Watchers were impressed with Dawn's research skills, they'd be more in favor of her being trained as a Watcher.   
  
It wasn't like Xander didn't  _know_  Giles was good at his job--no matter what the idiots who used to run things thought--but it was another thing entirely to watch him doing it. It made Xander wonder what the hell  _he_  was doing calling himself a Watcher. Watchers were like Giles, and Dawn, and Mrs. Cheever, and Alan Gregory. He was... well, he was good at finding Slayers, but that was about it. That didn't make him a Watcher.  
  
Dawn nodded. "I'm sure there's more you can add," Dawn said, "but I couldn't find a lot of references." She led Mrs. Cheever through to the living room.   
  
Before Giles or Andrew could speak, Xander got up from the table, starting to stack up plates. "That demon's going to wake up soon," he said to Giles, "and you're going to have to go downstairs anyway. Why don't I get the dishes?" He thought he managed a smile. "It's the least I can do. I mean, Andrew cooked, and you've got an interrogation to handle. I might as well make myself useful somehow."   
  
Giles gave him a strange look, but nodded. "All right. Thank you, Xander."   
  
"Hey, no problem," he said, turning to carry the plates into the kitchen.   
  
To his surprise, Andrew followed him in, his hands full of silverware. "I'll help," he said.   
  
Xander was about to argue when he remembered what they'd said earlier about Andrew needing to keep busy. "Sure. That'd be great," he lied.   
  
  


***

  
  
Giles watched Xander and Andrew walk out of the room and sighed. He wasn't used to so many people in his home, anymore, and it was dizzying to have everyone talking at once during a meal. He was very thankful for the chance of a few minutes alone to sort out his thoughts.  
  
Dawn seemed very excited by the prospect of working for the Council, something else he owed Xander, Giles thought. Xander had been right about many things, and Giles would have to thank him for that later, when all this was over. Perhaps then they would be able to talk things through.   
  
Shaking his head to keep himself from thinking about what had happened between them the other day, Giles stood up. He would check up on Mrs. Cheever and Dawn, and then go downstairs; that would keep him busy for now.  
  
When he went into the study, he found, to his slight surprise, that they were getting on well; Mrs. Cheever was nodding in approval as she read through Dawn's report, and Dawn sounded perfectly poised and confident as she answered her questions. It had been some time since he'd seen Dawn, and apparently he'd missed the stage where she'd become an adult overnight.   
  
If she'd met with Mrs. Cheever's approval, then he didn't need to have any worries at all about how well she'd fit in with the other trainees, either. And perhaps she'd be interested in transferring her interest from ancient human languages to non-human ones; they had younger Watchers interested in learning Sumerian, but when Mrs. Cheever finally retired, they'd lose their expert in demonic tongues. They could get by, he supposed--enough of the current Watchers knew at least a bit of one or two languages--but Dawn's gift for languages would put her in the position to be a real asset to the Council in the next decade or so.   
  
Yet another thing for him to make a note of for later.   
  
He'd been noticed; Dawn looked up at him curiously, and Giles smiled. "Just checking in on you two," he said.   
  
"Don't just stand there, Rupert" Mrs. Cheever told him--no, more accurately,  _scolded_  him. "Come over here and make yourself useful."   
  
Dawn giggled, and Giles shot her a warning look. "I was only going to say--" she began.   
  
Whatever she was going to say, however, Giles was to be mercifully spared, because he heard the clatter of footsteps running up the stairs and through the hallway, just a second before Nkiruka burst into the room.   
  
"Mr. Giles, Buffy--"  
  
"Miss Summers," Mrs. Cheever corrected her automatically.   
  
"Yes, her," the girl agreed. "Buffy says the demon is starting to wake up." She paused, grinning. "It's very ugly. I didn't notice that when it attacked us before; I was too busy protecting Xander."   
  
"Of course you were," Giles said. "Why don't you run to the kitchen and let Xander and Andrew know? We'll head downstairs."  
  
"Okay!" She twirled around and left the room at a run.  
  
Giles turned to Mrs. Cheever and Dawn, who were both standing up from the couch. "I'm not quite sure exactly how we'll proceed, but whatever happens, stay as far away from the demon as possible. Its claws alone are--"  
  
"Rupert," Mrs. Cheever said, looking at him the same way she had, decades ago, when she'd been tutoring him in languages and he hadn't done his homework. "We know full well what we are up against here, probably better than you do. Now, shall we?"  
  
With a nod, Giles led the way to the basement. The demon was definitely waking, if the groans it was making were any indication.  
  
"How long are we going to have to wait for it to wake up?" Buffy said.   
  
"You hit it pretty hard," Julia pointed out. "It could take a while."   
  
"Maybe we should encourage it," Dawn said, looking around the room. "Giles, can you give me that glass of water?" she asked, pointing at the glass someone had probably brought down for Julia earlier.  
  
Giles grabbed the glass and giving it to Dawn, who immediately threw it on the demon's head.  
  
Its eyes opened fully and glowed brightly, and it stood, growling. "It's not happy," Mrs. Cheever said, just as Niki was bouncing down the stairs with a cheerful "I'm back!" and coming to stand close to Buffy.  
  
Buffy whispered something to her that Giles couldn't hear, and the girl stepped back a few feet, taking a fighting stance.  
  
Whatever Buffy had said, Giles hoped it kept Niki quiet while this was going on. "We can see that, Mrs. Cheever."   
  
"No," she sighed, "that's what it just said. Rough translation would be 'this one is not happy.'"  
  
"Well, neither is anyone else," Giles muttered. "It should be grateful it's only chained in the cellar, and not beheaded by the side of the road." That earned him another look, and he shook his head. "Ask it what it was doing," he said.   
  
"Yes, thank you, Rupert," she said. "Can this be the last time today that I have to remind you that I know how to do my job?" She turned back to the demon, speaking quickly and listening to its reply.   
  
"Well?" Giles demanded after a moment, when the demon paused.  
  
"It wants to know why it should answer your questions."   
  
Buffy answered that for him, raising the sword she was holding. "Tell it that it's the only way I'm even going to consider letting it live after it attacked my sister."   
  
The response, through Mrs. Cheever, came quickly. "It was told there would be a vehicle coming down the road. In it would be a girl who would reek of Slayer--"  
  
"Hey!" Dawn protested, glaring at the demon. "I don't  _reek_  of anything."   
  
"There's no literal translation," Mrs. Cheever said. "Certain demon species are very sensitive to the presence of Slayers, magic users, and other supernaturally-aligned creatures; I expect it's a survival mechanism. As humans don't have that particular sense, we don't have a word for it. Your sister is a Slayer, so you've picked up some of that--we'll say 'aura,' if that sounds better to you--without actually being a Slayer, as have most of the Watchers here." When Dawn nodded her understanding, she went on, "That's what the demon was told to look for. A human girl who 'smelled' of Slayer, without actually being one."  
  
"Bet it was surprised to find us," Buffy said.  
  
To Giles' surprise, the demon responded without waiting for the translation. "It was," Mrs. Cheever confirmed. "It was told to expect a human man as her companion."  
  
"Mr. Wells," Julia said. "He'd hired the car in his name."   
  
"It understands English?" Giles asked.   
  
"Apparently," Mrs. Cheever said tartly. She questioned the demon again for a moment, then said, "It understands some English, but it says it doesn't speak any. It may not be telling the truth, but as we're able to communicate with it regardless, I don't believe that's important."   
  
"What were your orders?" Giles said, addressing the demon. Even if Mrs. Cheever had to translate some of it, perhaps speaking to the demon directly would predispose it to be more cooperative.   
  
The answer wasn't at all unexpected, but hearing it delivered bluntly still chilled Giles. "It was to kill them," the translation came. "But there were many Slayers, and it lost the fight. It still doesn't quite understand how that happened," Mrs. Cheever added. "It's quite bewildered by the presence of multiple Slayers."   
  
"Who gave the order?" Giles asked, deliberately choosing not to reply to the demon's comment.  
  
The demon stared back at him, but didn't say a word.  
  
Mrs. Cheever tried translating the question, but the demon didn't look at her or answer. "Well, I don't think it wants to answer that," she muttered just loud enough for Giles to hear.  
  
"Seems not," he said. "Perhaps what it needs is a little incentive?"  
  
Buffy raised her sword. "I'd be happy to help with that."  
  
The demon grunted. "It says it's not afraid to die," Mrs. Cheever translated. The demon made a few more sounds. "It's prepared to make a deal with you, though."  
  
"Oh, is it?" Giles snickered. "What does it want?"  
  
"To be set free. If you let it go, it'll tell you who gave it the orders to kill," Mrs. Cheever said, as the demon talked.  
  
Buffy put her sword against the demon's neck. "I don't think so."  
  
After another comment from the demon, Mrs. Cheever repeated, "It isn't afraid to die. It wants only to return to its tribe. It..." She frowned. "It apparently wasn't a willing participant." After a few more exchanges with the demon, she turned to Giles. "Make no mistake; it doesn't feel any  _remorse_  for killing humans, any more than a human might for, oh, killing a fox that got among the chickens, or something of that nature. It sees us as a nuisance at best and a threat at worst. But it sounds as though it, and the other demons of its tribe that were involved, was being threatened."  
  
Julia spoke up, her brow furrowed. "What could threaten a demon like that?" she said. "All right,  _us_ \--" her gesture took in the other Slayers in the room-- "and maybe an army tank or something, but look at it. A whole tribe of them? What could a couple of normal people do to that?"   
  
The demon spoke again, and Giles thought it sounded rather agitated. "Threaten its nesting grounds," Mrs. Cheever said. "I'm not absolutely certain of this species' life cycle--"  
  
"It was in that book I had," Dawn said. "They lay eggs, and the book said that it takes around a year for the eggs to hatch, and there's only a hatching every ten years or so. So if someone wiped out the tribe's nesting grounds, it'd be ten years before there were any more baby demons. Which, if you're a demon, might not be a good thing."   
  
Giles sighed. "Dawn, in your research, did you find anything at all about the tribe--even the human-hating offshoot--attacking humans without provocation?"  
  
She shook her head. "That's one reason they stick to pretty remote territory. They don't like us, and they tend to kill people who get near their territory, but otherwise, they keep to themselves."  
  
Giles considered this for a moment. "We might be able to strike a deal," he finally said.  
  
"Giles!" Buffy interjected. "I don't want to sound heartless or anything, but, you know,  _demon._  We don't strike deals with demons who go around killing people."  
  
He turned to her, staring her down. "I suppose you'd rather have more casualties, then?"  
  
"No, I think we need to get the information out of it without striking any kind of deal."  
  
"I don't think you'll manage that," Mrs. Cheever said. "It won't respond to any kind of physical threat. It doesn't care about death. It only wants the nesting ground to be protected."  
  
Buffy sighed, but relented, stepping back. Giles turned back to the demon. "A deal, then." He didn't like this situation, not at all, but if it was the only option, it would have to do. "We will release you--"  
  
"Heck," Buffy interrupted him. "We'll give you a ride back to the Arctic Circle." When everyone's gaze turned back to her again, she shrugged. "No way I'm letting a demon loose anywhere near any kind of populated area. If you guys are serious about agreeing to this, we're going to make sure it doesn't get the chance to kill anyone on the way home."  
  
"Agreed," Giles said. They did have the resources for that, after all. "We will release you back into your environment, but you have to give us the information we need for that to happen. We need names, places, means of communication. I want the full run down on whoever it is that is controlling you."  
  
"And who knows," Julia added, approaching the demon and lowering her crossbow to her side. "Maybe if we manage to stop them fast enough, we may very well save your nest at the same time."  
  
Mrs. Cheever started to translate when the demon stayed silent, but it interrupted her halfway. "It agrees. It is ready to give the information we need."  
  


***

  
  
"I'm not avoiding the issue, Andrew," Xander said, drying his hands on a tea towel and wondering if it would kill Giles to actually get a  _dishwasher_. "And the reason I'm not avoiding the issue," he went on as he tossed the towel over to Andrew, "is that there's nothing to avoid."  
  
He could remember a time when Andrew actually believed... well, basically everything Xander told him, however stupid it was. That was a good time, he thought, as Andrew frowned and gave him a look that clearly told him that those days were long gone. "Time is precious, grasshopper," Andrew began, and Xander scowled.   
  
"Stop with the  _Kung Fu_  crap," he muttered. Then, hearing noise in the other room, he went out, leaving Andrew to finish wiping off the splatters on the stove.   
  
"Xander!" Niki must have been in heaven; she was holding both Buffy's and Catherine's hands, tugging them over to the couch to sit with her. "You missed  _everything_!"   
  
Xander frowned, turning toward Giles. He was deep in discussion with Mrs. Cheever and Dawn about something, but Xander didn't care right now. This was important enough to interrupt. "You let her go down there when the demon was  _awake_?" he demanded.   
  
Giles blinked, turning to look at him, but Xander didn't give him time to talk. "For God's sake, Giles, she's  _ten years old._  Slayer or no Slayer, you've got no business putting her in that much danger!"   
  
"The demon," Giles said, "was restrained. There were six other people in the room with them. Three of them were also Slayers." Giles' voice was quiet, but Xander could tell he'd gone too far.   
  
He couldn’t stop himself from going farther. "I don't care if she's a Slayer," Xander said. "She's a little girl."  
  
"And I'm the one--"  
  
"Stop it!" Buffy yelled, jumping up and pushing her way in between them and glaring first at Giles, then at Xander. "I get your point," she said, more quietly. "But to demons? She's not a little girl. She's a Slayer. And that means that she has to at least know what she's up against. God, she had to kill a demon with her mom's  _kitchen knife_ , Xander; you can't keep her safe from everything." She smiled a little. "And if you try, she's just going to have to knock you unconscious to keep you out of the way, and you can ask Giles how much fun  _that_  is."   
  
Xander opened his mouth to say something, then stopped himself. He knew Buffy was right. It was just that taking care of the girls he was responsible for had always been the one thing he knew he was good at, and the thought that something could have happened to Niki while he was  _washing dishes_ \--   
  
He shook his head, sighing. "You're right," he admitted. Then he took a deep breath and looked over at Giles. "I shouldn't have lost my cool like that. You know, since I have such a limited supply of it in the first place."  
  
Giles' response was a tiny nod, but at least Xander thought that being fired was probably not imminent. As far as anything else went--he could apologize again later.   
  
"Okay," he said. "Now that the entertainment portion of the evening is over, did you have any luck?"   
  
"Yes, we did," Giles said, sitting down on a chair. "It's seen two people, one is its--handler, I supposed you'd call it. The demon could only describe him, but we're pretty certain we know who it is." He nodded at Mrs. Cheever.  
  
"Peter Jones is a contemporary of mine whom I know speaks demonic languages in spades; I studied with him for years," she said, sighing. "And his being involved in this whole thing wouldn't surprise me at all."  
  
"He is also quite close to Roger Wyndham-Pryce, who has been opposing my 'authority' since the beginning," Giles added, a grim look on his face.  
  
"Wyndham-Pryce?" Xander frowned.  
  
"Wesley's father, yes," Giles answered. "He makes Quentin Travers look like a progressive thinker, and he's made it clear that he resents the fact that neither he nor any of his cronies are running the Council now."  
  
"That would be disastrous," Mrs. Cheever said, shaking her head. "He's quite opposed to the idea of having more than one slayer. I've heard rumors that he'd prefer to--no, I can't say it." She looked at the girls, who had all turned pale.  
  
"Kill them all instead of find them all," Xander finished for her, a sick feeling in his stomach. He glanced over to make certain Niki hadn't been listening, then turned his attention back to Giles, who was rubbing his forehead. "So he's probably the one behind this, right?"  
  
"Possibly," Giles replied. "Although we can't be certain until we get more information." He paused, then looked straight at Xander. "The other individual that the demon described matched Mrs. Garner's description, so your intuition there was right as well," he said, expression softer than it had been before. "Apparently, she has been feeding information to Peter, using the means we discussed yesterday."  
  
So she'd been spying on them using Andrew. Xander sighed. "Great. Anything else?"  
  
"Peter is very well versed in magic, and from what Mrs. Cheever and I have deduced, he used protection spells to make sure the demon wouldn't turn on him in any way. And he also used the threat of destroying the whole clan's nest."  
  
Dawn picked up from there. "Apparently, they have like a failsafe system in place. If the demon turns against them, or leaves and doesn't complete the 'mission', they'll have the nest destroyed long before it can reach it again."  
  
"So they're well organized," Xander said.  
  
"Very." Giles stood up again, towering over them. "It's only a guess, but I'd say we're dealing with several layers of command. We simply need to get to the top of it. York is definitely a part of all this, as he's the only one who knew about Dawn, but Peter hates York, and vice versa, so I stand by what I first believed: York isn't the leader."  
  
"I agree," Mrs. Cheever said. "Peter would never agree to work with Stephen York, so we must be dealing with two different branches here. And now that I think about it, Stephen and Roger Wyndham-Pryce were at school together."  
  
Giles nodded. "So there's a connection there. In any case, York is due here tomorrow for an interview with Dawn," he added, taking off his glasses. "Buffy, I'd like you to be there. We'll need to get as much information out of him as we can, and as quickly as possible."  
  
Buffy's expression turned almost gleeful. "A chance to beat up on the guy who ordered a hit on my sister? Oh yeah, I'm so there."  
  
Dawn rolled her eyes and shook her head. "We can probably corner him with the evidence without it turning into a bloodbath, you know."  
  
"Yeah," Buffy answered, shrugging and smiling. "But I can still imagine tearing him apart, can't I?"  
  
"And describe it to him in graphic detail," Xander said, smiling at her. "Sorry, Dawnie, but Buffy's not the only one in favor of damaging people who threaten you."  
  
"All right," Giles said. "We're going to have to find someone to transport the demon back to the Arctic Circle, but I'd prefer to keep it here until the situation has been resolved."  
  
"In the basement?" Xander said.   
  
"Unless you'd prefer to invite it up for tea," Mrs. Cheever said.   
  
"I'd prefer to use magic," Giles went on, just like they hadn't been talking, "considering that I'm not certain how we'd get the thing onto a plane. But since Willow's still incommunicado, we'll have to find someone else who's powerful enough to transport it."   
  
"And someone we can trust to do it," Xander added. "Which, I guess, is a good reason to keep it here until we've figured out who we  _can_  trust, even if I don't like it."  
  
"I don't like this situation any more than you do, Xander," Giles said. "But we have no other choice for the moment."  
  
"Yeah, I know." Giles was right, and Xander knew it. He could already predict a night of very little sleep, but at least he wouldn't be the only one.  
  
"Dawn, you, Catherine, and Nkiruka should head back to the dormitory with Mrs. Cheever. There isn't anymore any of you can do, and you, in particular, need a good night's sleep, or as close to it as you can get." Then Giles turned to Buffy. "The rest of us will be keeping watch on the demon. Julia should eat now, so you'll be first watch."  
  
"All right," Buffy replied. "That sounds like a plan."  
  
"Sounds good to me, too," Xander said, turning to the girls. "Niki, you know you can't talk about any of this with anyone, right? Same goes for you, Catherine."  
  
Catherine nodded. "We know."  
  
"Yes, Xander," Niki added. "I can so keep a secret."  
  
"I know you can, I wasn't saying you couldn't. I just want to make sure you know how important this is. If word gets out--"  
  
"Bad things will happen," she finished for him. "I understand stuff, you know, I'm not just  _a little girl._ " She was angry with him, very angry apparently, and scowling. Xander would never live that one down--he really had to remember not to underestimate her or her ego. A moment later, though, she was hugging him goodbye.  
  
"I'm sorry, Niki," he told her, softly. He really was sorry for lashing out, even though he was still angry at Giles. They could have, at the very least, told him, so he could have been down there with them. Although, he had been the one to hide in the kitchen. And Buffy was right in the end.  
  
"Come on, Niki," Catherine said. Xander could see them from the corner of his eye, ready to leave. "We'll be back in the morning."  
  
"Okay," Niki said, pulling away and almost immediately grabbing Catherine's hand. She waved at Buffy, a wide smile on her lips, and the four of them left.  
  
"All right, those of us who can, need to sleep; the rest of us..." Giles sighed.  
  
"I don't think anyone's going to get any sleep tonight," Buffy said. She looked at Xander with a small smile. "Popcorn?"  
  
"Movie night!" He bounced to his feet; that was a good idea, actually. They didn't have any more research to do at this point, and it would keep them distracted for a while. "Giles doesn't have a lot of stuff, but I think there are a couple upstairs in my room."  
  
When Xander looked at him, Giles was smiling and shaking his head. "I'll let you set up the VCR and take care of the refreshments, then. Buffy--"  
  
She interrupted him before he could finish his sentence. "I'll go 'relieve' Julia of her duties. She's probably starving."  
  
"Good plan," Xander said. "There's a plate in the fridge for her; all she has to do is heat it up. Andrew took care of it." And he should probably go and check on Andrew, too, if he hadn't come back out to join the rest of them when Xander came back down.   
  
He wasn't just being nice, either; with Buffy downstairs on demon duty, he wanted someone else to talk to. He barely knew Julia, and conversations with Giles were tricky right now.   
  
Xander left the room quickly, heading upstairs. He'd picked up a couple of videos from time to time when he was going to be here for longer than a night or two, and Giles had let him keep them on the bookshelf in 'his' room. Hopefully, that would be enough to keep them occupied all night.   
  
  


***


	11. Chapter 11

"There's no need for all of us to be in my office when York arrives," Giles said, but Buffy wasn't hearing any of it. Xander was finding it quite amusing to watch them shout at each other over the table. "Dawn and I will go on our own first."  
  
"I want to be there, Giles," Buffy repeated for what seemed like the twentieth time or so; Xander had stopped counting after eight.  
  
"Yes, I'm aware of that, and I do want Xander and yourself there as well when we get to the point of interrogating him, but--"  
  
"Xander--"  
  
"I agree with him, Buffy," Xander replied. "We'll stand back for a few minutes, and then we'll walk in there and corner him. We just really shouldn't put him on the defensive first thing, we need to--well, to corner him without him suspecting a thing."  
  
"Come on, Buffy," Dawn added. "You know I won't be in any danger, and you can  _still_  describe to York how you plan to dismember him." She smiled and patted Buffy's forearm.  
  
Xander had to admit, that was a very good thought. He grabbed his cup of coffee, and found himself smiling at Giles without really knowing why. He cleared his throat and looked away, but the look on Giles' face seemed to be imprinted on the back of his mind, and he couldn't shake it. Giles had looked--happy. Worried, yes, they all were, but still, there was happiness there too. Which kind of made sense, because Xander was feeling it too. Despite the situation, and the danger--they only had one demon; there could be a few more out there--it was good to have Buffy and Dawn here. This felt just a little bit more like home every day.  
  
"Okay," Buffy finally said, drawing Xander away from his thoughts. "I'll hang out in Andrew's office with Xander; we'll give you ten minutes with York, and then we burst in, and kick his ass. Deal?"   
  
Dawn shook Buffy's extended hand, giggling. "Deal. Now eat your toast before it gets cold."  
  
Buffy rolled her eyes and took a bite.   
  
Giles stood up suddenly, and looked out the window. "He's here. Early, I might add."  
  
"Apparently," Xander said, pushing his chair back and putting his coffee down on the table. "Let's go. It's better if he doesn't see you, Buffy."  
  
"Yeah, I agree," Buffy said, putting her toast back down into her plate. "Guess I'll just have to eat later."  
  
"I hear ass-kicking is like swimming," Xander said. "You'd have to wait for an hour after you eat, anyway."   
  
Okay, he really must have been missing her more than he'd thought, because he was even happy to get that exasperated look from her.   
  
Giles glanced at his watch. "Give us twenty minutes instead," he said. "I don't want him to think anything unusual is going on, and normally, if he turned up this early, I'd make him wait." He smiled, but this time, it didn’t look at all pleasant. "And if his plans had come through, he'd certainly be expecting me to be rather... busy this morning."   
  
If his plans had come through, Xander thought. That was a tactful way of saying, "If Dawn was dead." He looked over at Dawn, reassured at the sight of her gulping her coffee and brushing a crumb of toast off her shirt, perfectly safe.   
  
"Twenty minutes it is," he said. "Come on, Buff." He led the way into Andrew's office; Andrew's job was to let York in, keep him busy until Giles was ready to see him, and then lock the doors so he couldn't get away when he realized he'd been caught.   
  
It was probably a good thing that he wasn't there, really. Buffy might not have been very big, but a third person in the office would be too much of a crowd. He let Buffy take the chair, if only because that way he knew she wouldn't be pacing back and forth.  
  
He sat on the edge of the desk; Buffy looked up at him and said, like she'd been reading his mind, "He got here early so he could gloat about killing Dawn."   
  
Xander swallowed hard, nodding. "Yeah." Then he sighed. "We're going to get them, Buffy. They're going to stop. Dawn's safe--"  
  
"And they tried to kill you, too, didn't they?" she interrupted him.   
  
Even though he'd known that, he hadn't really thought about it like that before. "Yeah," he said again. "But I'm fine, too. And we're going to stop them."  
  
"I know." She forced a smile. "Subject change. Tell me about Niki."   
  
Okay, that seemed like a good way to kill twenty minutes--well, more like fifteen, now. "What do you want to know?"  
  
"She really killed a demon with a kitchen knife?"  
  
"Well, if by 'kitchen knife' you mean 'gigantic meat cleaver,' yeah. Right before I got there, some demon had realized there was a Slayer in the neighborhood...." He started in on the story the way Mr. and Mrs. Achebe had told it to him. It wasn't as exciting as Niki's version, but he was pretty sure it wasn't as exaggerated, either.   
  
  


***

  
  
Giles had to admit that York was a good actor. His eyes had widened slightly when Andrew had finally shown him in and he'd seen Dawn sitting there, but there'd been nothing else to give away his surprise. He'd been stiffly polite to Dawn, just as Giles would have expected him to be, and had been far more interested in complaining about her lack of formal training than in assessing her actual abilities.   
  
He let York go on for a few minutes before cutting him off. "As  _fascinating_  as this is," he said dryly, "it isn't really why I asked you to come down here this morning."  
  
York frowned at him, his lips pressed into a tight, disapproving line. "I was under the impression that you wanted me to meet this assistant you're foisting onto me."   
  
"Oh, come now, Stephen," Giles said, smirking a little when York scowled at the use of his first name. "You were under the impression that you'd arrive here to be told that this 'assistant I'm foisting onto you' had met with a tragic accident on her way here from the airport."   
  
York straightened up in his seat, eyes cold, but giving nothing away. "First of all, do not presume the familiarity of using my first name. Whatever you may call yourself, I'm still old enough to be your father and you owe me respect, young man, not the other way around. I also have no bloody clue what you're on about."  
  
Giles rolled his eyes at him, and crossed his arms over his chest. He gave Dawn a quick look, then turned back to York. "Oh, don't be daft. It just so happens that Miss Summers here is every bit as good at research as I've let on."  
  
"And how is that?" York asked, face tight.  
  
If looks could kill, both Giles and Dawn would be dead by now. "Well, this--how did you call it? Oh, yes--this 'pet project' of mine. I had Dawn on it as well. It turns out that you were wrong."  
  
"I wasn't wrong. I'm  _never_  wrong." He didn't sound so sure of himself now, though. "How would you be able to verify the information, anyhow?"  
  
"It was quite simple, actually," Giles replied. He nodded at Dawn.  
  
"Yes, very easy," she said, grinning. "We have one of the demons locked up in the basement."  
  
When that news sank in, York looked utterly terrified.   
  
"To what purpose?" York bluffed. "To prove I'm past my prime? Force me into retirement? You'll have to work harder than that to convince me that I should leave the Council to people like you."   
  
"To find out why it was attacking Watchers," Giles said. "But of course, you knew that already." He got up from behind his desk, coming around to stand in front of York--and conveniently, of course, preventing York from making a run for it. "Because of you and your associates, Alan Gregory is dead and Mrs. Bishop is seriously injured, and it's only by pure chance that they're the only ones.  
  
"And you didn't stop there," Giles went on. "You sent one of those things onto the  _school grounds_. A student--a  _child_ \--could have been killed. And if one had, I assure you, we would  _not_  be sitting here having a chat right now." Dawn might have been killed. Xander might have been killed, and while they'd taken steps to protect Dawn, it was only by luck that Xander had had all three of the girls with him that day. Giles glared down at York, not trusting himself to say anything further.   
  
"You're threatening me?" York demanded. "You have the nerve to threaten me, after what you've done to the Council?"   
  
"I'm not threatening you," he said. "I'm explaining the facts in the matter." Then, without looking away from York, he said, "Dawn, would you let Buffy and Xander know that we're ready for them?" He gave York a cold smile. "Buffy, on the other hand, is quite protective of the sister you put in danger yesterday. I expect  _she'll_  be happy to threaten you. And--well, I wouldn't like to be on the wrong side of an infuriated Slayer, if I were you."   
  
Buffy and Xander strode in almost immediately after Dawn opened the door.   
  
Buffy came to stand in front of Giles' desk, leaning against it. "Just so you know, before we start, I have no problem beating up old, crippled men when they deserve it."  
  
"This is ridiculous!" York growled, struggling to get up from his chair. "Don't you dare threaten me, young lady."  
  
Buffy stepped forward until she was just inches away from York, forcing him back into his chair. "You ordered a hit on my  _sister_ , dumbass," she said. "Of course I dare!"  
  
York looked fast from Buffy to Giles and back again.  
  
"You have two choices, Mr. York," Giles said. "You either tell us what we want to know right now, or I'll let Buffy get it out of you." York paled visibly at that.   
  
Buffy grinned, holding her hand out to Xander, who gave her her sword. "See, I even brought my tools."  
  
"Dear God, you're quite mad," York tried again, but it was obvious that he knew he wouldn't be able to bluff his way out of this.  
  
"There was a second option," Giles reminded him coolly. Now that Buffy was here, he went back to sit behind his desk. "We're well aware you weren't acting alone, and that you're hardly the mastermind behind this entire scheme. If you tell us what we want to know, I'm sure Buffy could be persuaded to leave you unharmed."  
  
"Well," Buffy said. "Mostly, at least." She leaned forward, still smiling. "And the faster you talk, the nicer I'm going to feel like being."  
  
"She's insane," York said, turning to Giles. "You're  _all_  insane!"  
  
"We're not the ones trying to kill little girls," Xander said. "Sorry, Dawnie," he added, when Dawn frowned at him. "But Ocean could have been hurt a lot worse than she was, too." He turned back to York. "That makes you the crazy one, if you ask me."  
  
"I'm dead anyway," York said.   
  
"How do you figure that?" Giles asked. Perhaps Buffy had been a little too convincing.   
  
"You can't exactly hand me over to the police. Do you expect me to think that you're going to just open the door and let me walk out?"   
  
"No," Giles said. "But unlike you, I believe we can handle things without resorting to murder."  
  
"What do you plan on doing with me, then, if not kill me?" York asked.  
  
"Well, I can think of a few things," Giles replied with a calculating grin. "But I'd rather not go into the details just yet. Just tell us what you know, Mr. York, before Buffy loses her temper."  
  
York looked from Giles to Buffy again, then looked back at Giles. "It seems you've left me with no choice," he said.   
  
"That was the plan," Buffy agreed.   
  
He sighed heavily. "What do you want to know?"   
  
  


***

  
  
"Perhaps we should go over the details again," Giles said.   
  
Xander gave him a look. "This is the part where I tell you, again, that you're worrying too much, right?" He grinned at Giles. Not that there weren't a dozen, or maybe even a hundred, things that could go wrong with their plan. Of course there were. But they'd planned, and re-planned, and everything was as well-organized as it could possibly be.   
  
Yesterday, Buffy had taken York down to the basement--Xander was kind of disappointed that they'd actually put him in what used to be the wine cellar, and not locked him up with the demon--they'd spread the word, or at least, let the girls spread the word, that Dawn had been attacked and had narrowly escaped with her life.   
  
Word had gotten out pretty well, like they'd known it would, and by dinnertime, Xander would have been willing to bet that there wasn't a person at the school who didn't know about the attack on Dawn. And he had to admit, Giles had been right to keep things as quiet as he could, before; the students and at least two-thirds of the teachers looked terrified, no matter how much Giles tried to reassure them that the situation was now under control.   
  
Xander had found himself looking suspiciously at the teachers who  _weren't_  panicking. Some of them, they already knew were involved in the conspiracy; others-- well, they might not have been in on it, as such, but Xander would have been willing to bet that they knew something about it. Giles had noticed, too.   
  
If they intended to cause trouble, he said, he'd deal with them after the meeting.   
  
The meeting was why Giles had lent Xander one of his ties, which Xander kept tugging at uncomfortably. He'd never really been a tie-wearing guy, and it had been a while since he'd even owned one. But it was important, at least in Giles' opinion, to make this look like what it was pretending to be: a meeting of the full Council of Watchers, or at least everyone who could get there on short notice, during which Giles was going to address the current situation.   
  
The word "resignation" hadn't been mentioned at all, not officially, but Andrew had been told to drop it into conversation whenever possible--to deny it completely, but make sure that everyone involved in the plot against Giles, and enough other people to make it look less suspicious, knew all about it. Giles wanted everyone to come in thinking that he was quitting, that York and the others had won.   
  
The meeting was being held in the school auditorium; Andrew had gone in there this morning and come out with notes about how they should handle things. Xander guessed it really shouldn't have been all that surprising that Andrew was good at staging a dramatic moment. Giles would address the Council from the stage, Buffy at his right hand. Andrew had put Xander on Giles' left, which Xander thought made him look a lot more important than he actually was. Then again, he did want to be involved in this, so maybe it wasn't a bad idea.   
  
Andrew stuck his head backstage, whispering, "Everybody's inside. What do I do now?"  
  
"Wait five minutes just in case there are stragglers," Giles said. "Then close the doors, and alert the girls to be ready."   
  
"Aye, aye, Captain," Andrew said, saluting. Xander still had no idea what was going on with that, but whatever it was, the face Giles made was always entertaining. "They're all there," Andrew added. "Mr. Wyndam-Pryce and Mr. Jones and everybody else on that list you gave me."   
  
"Thank you, Andrew," Giles said, and Andrew went back out to wait. Then, turning to Xander and Buffy, he smiled tightly. "Ready?"  
  
"I'm ready," Buffy said, and Xander nodded.   
  
Giles took a deep breath and led them out on stage.   
  
They'd agreed to give the girls plenty of time to get into position, so Giles started off just like this was a legitimate Council meeting; he summarized the situation so far, mentioned the details of the memorial service they'd hurriedly put together for Alan Gregory, and then went on at great length about how very seriously he was taking the problem.   
  
Xander had plenty of time to check out the crowd. Dawn was there, in the front row, sitting between Andrew and Mrs. Cheever. He could see Mrs. Garner in the crowd, but he didn't know what most of the other people looked like. He found himself looking over everyone he didn't recognize, wondering which were the people who'd tried to have at least half-a-dozen people killed just to get Giles to quit his job.   
  
"As we investigated," Giles said, "one thing became increasingly obvious." Xander tried not to look in Buffy's direction; Giles was starting to sound a lot like he had back when Xander had been in high school and Giles had felt the need to lecture them all about something. If he met Buffy's eyes, Xander was afraid that, as serious as this was, he still wasn't going to be able to keep a straight face.   
  
He went back to watching the crowd, and Giles went on talking: "The attacks were directed not at our Slayers, but at the Watchers accompanying them. And the Watchers attacked were all, or nearly all, my staunchest supporters. I was forced to conclude that this was an attack directed at me, or rather, at my leadership of the Council."   
  
Xander was pleased to notice that for all the people who looked a little smug at that, there were at  _least_  as many people looking completely horrified.   
  
"I know that many of you have come here expecting to hear my resignation," Giles said, and Xander saw Buffy straighten up, preparing for trouble. He glanced over at Andrew, who was punching buttons on his cell phone; he was supposed to get in touch with Julia outside the auditorium. Buffy had been impressed enough with her in the past couple of days that she'd put Julia in charge of the Slayers standing guard, since Buffy wanted to stay close in case someone attacked Giles directly.   
  
"I am afraid, however," Giles went on, "that's not the case. I have no intention of resigning; in fact, this situation has made it clear to me that the old guard cannot be allowed to regain control of the Council. We have made many mistakes in our past, but murder cannot, and  _will not_ , be one of them again." There was a lot of flinching, Xander noticed, at the term "murder," and Andrew bit his lip. Xander was glad to see Dawn patting him on the shoulder comfortingly; he knew that none of the rest of them had been all that good at comforting Andrew over the past couple of days.   
  
"Due to the circumstances surrounding Alan Gregory's murder," Giles said, "there is nothing the police could do to punish those responsible." He paused for a moment, for effect, and then went on. "We are not the police. Thanks to statements given both by one of the demons summoned to attack Miss Dawn Summers, and by Stephen York, one of the conspirators, we were able to identify the people involved." He sighed. "They will be kept in Council custody until we are able to magically bind them for our protection--and for their own," he added.   
  
That was probably true, Xander thought; after the attack on Dawn, Buffy would probably be glad of any excuse to go after them. So would he, for that matter. So would Giles.   
  
But they'd gotten hold of Willow by phone last night, and she'd said that she could put a binding spell on them that ought to solve the problem. If Xander had understood her right, they wouldn't be able to do magic or to contact any of the others without Willow knowing about it, and they'd be easier to magically locate in case the Council ever lost track of them.   
  
"Should they attempt to violate the binding," Giles said, "then we will take appropriate actions to ensure that they will pose no threat to us, to the Slayers in our care, or to innocent bystanders." Xander wished he could see Giles' face; his tone of voice was enough to let Xander know that this was the Giles that you really, really didn't want to argue with.   
  
"The following people," Giles said, "conspired to gain control of the Watchers' Council, and are responsible for the death of Alan Gregory, among other crimes." He took a deep breath, and Xander wished there was some way he could be supportive other than just standing here like an idiot. "Roger Wyndam-Pryce," he began. "Peter Jones. Stephen York. Marjorie Garner...." There were a few other names on the list, and as Giles read them out, the Watchers in the crowd began looking around, murmuring to one another.   
  
"This is ridiculous!" someone snapped. "Do you expect us to just stand here and--"  
  
He broke off then, because the doors to the auditorium had opened to reveal several Slayers standing in every doorway.   
  
"No, Roger," Giles said flatly. "I expect you to just  _sit_  there until I am finished, and then I expect you to go quietly with the Slayers."   
  
Someone else--not Roger Wyndam-Pryce--jumped to his feet, making a run for the side doors. Xander looked in that direction, and realized then that one of the two Slayers on that door was much, much shorter than the other one.   
  
"Niki?" he whispered to Buffy. "What's she doing there?"   
  
Buffy shook her head. "I don't know. She wasn't  _supposed_  to be there."  
  
Xander was guessing that the guy--it was Peter Jones, he learned, when Giles called after him to stop--was expecting to have an easier time getting past Niki than he would one of the older girls. Maybe he even thought she wasn't really a Slayer, since she was so young.   
  
Whatever the reason, when he got close to the door, Xander heard Niki call out in a clear voice, "Stop right there."   
  
He didn't stop, though, and Xander was pretty sure that he regretted that; if not right away, then when Niki knocked him flat on his back and stood there with one foot planted on his chest, looking around to see what she should do next.   
  
"Thank you, Nkiruka," Giles said. "Perhaps you could accompany Mr. Jones back to his seat?"  
  
"Yes, Mr. Giles," Niki replied proudly, taking her feet off Peter's chest. "Up," she said forcefully, glaring at the man.  
  
Jones looked completely petrified as he scrambled to his feet, and Xander had to bite his lip hard enough to hurt to keep from laughing at the situation. Everyone in the auditorium was quiet, and had their heads turned to watch Jones being escorted to his seat by a girl so short she didn't even reach the man's chest.  
  
"Do you see what you've done?" The silence was broken by Roger's outcry. He was standing up in the crowd, glaring at Giles. "You have  _children_  with power they cannot even begin to comprehend."  
  
"And what do you propose I do with them, Roger? Kill them?" Giles asked, drawing the attention back to him.  
  
"What you are doing is not what this Council stands for. The situation should have been dealt with a long time before now. I will not tolerate--"  
  
"HEY!" Niki said loudly, cutting off whatever Roger was going to say. She had her hands on her hips , and she was walking towards Roger's row of seat, an angry look on her face. It was actually past "cute" at this point and going right into "whoa, scary." "I can kick your ass too, you know. You almost had  _my_ Watcher killed!"  
  
"Your Watcher?" Roger repeated spitefully. "And who would that be? Xander Harris is  _far_  from being a Watcher."  
  
"You're wrong," she shouted. "He is  _my_  Watcher, and he's the best out of all of you!"  
  
Giles turned to Xander, and he nodded. He should probably stop her before she actually hurt someone. "Niki," Xander called out. "Why don't you come up here with us?"  
  
She looked at him and nodded. Then she pulled on Roger's arm with what had to be enough strength to hurt, forcing him to get back into his seat. "Now, you sit down and let Mr. Giles talk, okay? Because I'm a lot stronger than you are, and I  _say_  so."   
  
Some people in the assembly laughed at that, and when Xander looked around to see who they were, he found Mrs. Cheever looking at him with the biggest smile he'd ever seen on her face. She looked proud, and it made something in his chest swell. Maybe he wasn't all that bad at this after all. Although he definitely needed to have a talk with Niki about how being strong didn't mean you could boss people around. He'd wait until  _after_  this was all settled, though.   
  
Niki climbed up the stairs to the stage and came to stand next to him. He squeezed her shoulder lightly and gave her a smile.  
  
"To those of you who haven't yet met this young lady, her name is Nkiruka Achebe. She is from Nigeria, and she's only ten years old. The night before Mr. Harris found her, she had to kill a demon in her home, using her mother's kitchen knife," Giles said. "Demons don't care how old the girls are, or how much training they have. They will hunt them whether we do anything about it or not. And I, for one, would rather they have the means to protect themselves than leave them to what would undoubtedly be their death." He paused for a minute, and then held up the list of names again. "Now, if there are no more interruptions, let us continue."  
  
Xander held on to Niki's hand to keep her from leaving the stage, but he hadn't needed to worry about it; the rest of the Council were far too stunned to make a scene, and Niki stood silently by his side for the rest of Giles' pronouncement.   
  
When Giles had finished speaking, he nodded to Buffy, and she stepped forward, directing pairs of Slayers to come forward and escort the guilty parties to the unused classrooms they'd set up as cells until Willow arrived to deal with them. She'd chosen to fly, she said, because the spells she was going to use were complex, and she wanted to have all of her energy available for them. It made sense, but it did mean it would be a couple of days before things were completely settled.   
  
"I want to help," Niki whispered loudly, starting forward, but Xander shook his head and held her hand tightly.   
  
"Stay here with me, Niki."   
  
"I can help!" she insisted. Xander sighed. He hated to have to resort to "because I said so" as an excuse, but she wasn't leaving him with much choice.   
  
And then Buffy, thank God, turned to Niki and said, quietly, "I need you here. We need to make sure our Watchers are safe, okay?"   
  
Niki nodded, returning to Xander's side.   
  
They waited there until the last team of Slayers closed the door behind them, and then Giles spoke again. "I am aware that my actions may not be popular ones. If any of you feel that, after today, you can no longer work for the Council, early retirement will be arranged for anyone who contacts my assistant, Mr. Wells, within the week." Xander halfway expected people to get up and go over to Andrew right then, but no one moved.   
  
"There will, of course," Giles continued, "need to be some reassignment of duties. While some of the participants in this conspiracy have retired from active duty, others held important positions within the Council. I'm holding off on assigning a new head of Research until we know whether or not Helen Bishop will be able to return to work, but many of you should expect to be called in to discuss your new positions during the next few days."   
  
Xander happened to know that Giles hadn't had time to decide about  _any_  of that yet, but this made it look like he was totally on top of things. He'd definitely gotten good at this over the last couple of years.   
  
Giles wrapped things up quickly, inviting those Watchers who'd traveled long distances--not many of them, with such short notice, but a few--to spend a few days at the school. They'd talked about that last night; Giles wanted them to spend time around the Slayers, to feel like they were part of this, even though they spent most of their time out in the field.   
  
And then people started filing out of the auditorium, until there were only the seven of them there. Giles took a deep breath, shaking his head. "That went better than I had expected," he said.   
  
"Did you see me stop that man?" Niki asked him, beaming proudly.   
  
"Yes," Giles agreed. "I certainly did."  
  
"And I made the other one sit down," she went on, still grinning. "He should  _not_  have said that about my Watcher."   
  
"Well, you told him, kiddo," Xander said, ruffling her hair and grinning back at her. "Now, why don't you go with Mrs. Cheever? It's going to be time for dinner soon, and I bet she'd like some help."   
  
"I want to have dinner with you and Buffy," she argued.   
  
"Buffy's going to have dinner with  _you_ ," Xander told her. "And I'll come by and see you later tonight, but there's some stuff I have to do right now, okay?"  
  
"Okay," she said, with a dramatic sigh. She let Buffy lead her off the stage to join Dawn and Mrs. Cheever.   
  
Xander jumped down from the stage as well, while Giles took the slower--but, he had to admit, probably more dignified--route of going down the steps. Andrew met them at the foot of the steps. "Should I go and check on the prisoners?" he asked, and Giles shook his head.   
  
"No, Andrew," Giles said, "I'd rather do that myself, this time, though I'll need you to be responsible for making certain they're well taken care of." Andrew nodded, making notes on his clipboard, and Giles went on. "Remember, any time the doors are unlocked, I want at least two people present. They don't need to be Slayers, but I don't want anyone putting themselves at risk by going in there alone."   
  
"Yes, sir," Andrew said. Then, quietly, he said, "Mr. Giles?"   
  
"Yes?"  
  
"What you said about Alan--I mean, about Mr. Gregory--when you announced the memorial service?" Andrew took a deep breath, and Xander could see that it was taking a lot of effort for him to hold himself together. "That was... I think he would have liked it. Thank you."   
  
Giles smiled at Andrew. "Thank you," he said. "I'd meant to ask you later, but since you brought it up, would you be willing to say a few words at the service?"   
  
Andrew swallowed hard, looking down at his clipboard for a minute. He didn't look up again before answering. "Yes, sir. I'd like that."   
  
Giles looked more than a little uncomfortable; he cleared his throat and said, "We'll talk about it more later, shall we?" before starting toward the door.   
  
"Hey, Andrew," Xander said, smiling. "Walk with me back to the house?"  
  
Andrew nodded. "I can do that."  
  


***


	12. Chapter 12

For the rest of the afternoon and early evening, Xander had considered himself on "Andrew duty." Not that it was a real chore--mostly, they hung out, watched one of the movies they hadn't gotten to the other night, that kind of thing. Xander just thought--well, if Andrew had been half as attached to Alan Gregory as they thought he'd been, it would be better for him not to be alone.   
  
Xander knew all about how that went, so he had no problem volunteering.   
  
Finally, though, Giles got back, and Andrew had gone to take a turn, with Buffy, at guarding their "guests."   
  
"I should go help," Xander said, but Giles shook his head.   
  
"We'll need you to take a turn tomorrow morning," he said. "Willow won't be getting in until tomorrow evening, so we'll need to keep them under guard until then--possibly even until the next morning, depending on how late she gets here." He smiled, slightly. "Though I will ask her to send our demon friend home as soon as she arrives. I think we'll all sleep better knowing he's back where he belongs."   
  
"Definitely," Xander agreed. So, Andrew and Buffy were on guard duty and Dawn was in the dorms with the Slayers. That left... them. It had been a while since it had been just the two of them; Xander wasn't sure he was looking forward to it. He got to his feet, not looking at Giles. "Maybe I should go and--"  
  
"Xander," Giles said quietly. "Please. Sit down."   
  
"Giles, I don't--" Xander shook his head and sat down anyway. "I don't want to talk about, well,  _that_." He was probably on the wrong track, assuming that's what Giles wanted to talk about, but there'd been something in Giles' tone of voice....  
  
"I know," Giles said, sighing. "And that wasn't entirely what I'd been wanting to talk to you about, although it  _is_  a part of it."  
  
"I just really think we should sleep on it, or something. Wait till Willow's done her thing, and everything's back to normal." Xander would probably be on the first plane back to Africa by then.  
  
Giles sat down next to him on the couch, leaning forward slightly. "I won't have you running away from this," he said, softly.  
  
He didn't need to say what 'this' was, just like Xander hadn't needed to explain what 'that' meant either. Xander didn't know what was freakier: that they could understand each other so well, or that he really  _liked_  that they could.  
  
"Nkiruka was right, you know," Giles added, when Xander stayed silent.  
  
Xander perked up at Niki's name, trying to figure out what she had to do with all this. "About what?"  
  
"You  _are_  a Watcher, Xander, and a pretty damned good one at that."  
  
"There are a lot of better ones around," Xander muttered, looking down at the floor.   
  
"No, actually, there aren't," Giles said with conviction. "Niki's little stunt today made me realize something that I've known for a while, but couldn't quite articulate. You inspire confidence in the girls in your care. Niki is a prime example of that. She believes in her abilities, because you believe in  _her_."  
  
"I keep telling her she's too little to do things; how's that believing in her?" Xander said bitterly.  
  
"You're protecting her, Xander," Giles argued. "She  _is_  young and vulnerable, but in the end, what matters is that you know she  _can_  be a great Slayer in time, and that makes her believe it as well. Catherine and Océane have also taken to you, and I don't believe they'd ever warmed up quite that much to their original Watcher. You believe in them, in their abilities, you spend time with them outside of training and classes, something I've rarely seen any of the other Watchers do. The girls  _trust_  you. And I think a good part of that is that you never let them forget that they are still young, and should act like teenagers, not like adults before their time." Giles put a hand on Xander's knee and squeezed it. "There aren't a lot of Watchers who understand that, Xander. It took me meeting Buffy and the rest of you to understand it myself. You do, and that makes you at  _least_  as good a Watcher as anyone else on this Council."  
  
Xander shook his head, a little too stunned to actually find words. Honestly, he just didn't know what he could say to this. He didn't even know what to  _think_.  
  
"There will always be others who will criticize your involvement with the Council because of your lack of formal training, but that shouldn't discourage you or make you think you're less worthy of being here. What you lack in that department, you make up for with your knowledge of how things truly work out there. Buffy said it years ago, and it's still true: not many people have the field experience you have."  
  
"Well," Xander said, voice a bit hoarse. "You do." He looked up at Giles and found him staring, a soft smile on his lips.  
  
Giles leaned in, slowly, probably trying to give Xander as much time to pull away as he could. When their lips met this time, Xander knew exactly what was happening, and with just the slight pressure of Giles' mouth against his, he realized he  _wanted_  it to happen.  
  
So he kissed Giles back.  
  
This was what it was supposed to be like, he thought, bringing his hand up to cup the back of Giles' head, holding him close. This wasn't like the last time, when he'd been confused and they'd both been annoyed with one another.   
  
This was why he'd been so angry with Giles before; this had been what he'd wanted all along. And it had been worth waiting for: Giles' hand in his hair, the slide of Giles' tongue against his, the chance to explore every inch of Giles' mouth, slowly and deliberately.   
  
And if he thought too hard about how they almost hadn't gotten to have this because of what Giles had done earlier, he was just going to get annoyed again, so Xander stopped thinking and just went back to kissing.   
  
They pulled back slowly. Xander licked his lips, heart beating fast in his chest. "See," he murmured, "this is what kissing should be like."  
  
Giles gave a soft chuckle. "I couldn't agree more."  
  
Xander sighed, although he couldn't keep a grin from spreading on his lips, and he looked away, shaking his head. "I--Look, I don't think we have the best timing ever, considering the situation, and, well, we probably should wait until everything's taken care of, and..." Xander lost his train of thought when Giles cupped his cheek.  
  
"We can wait, Xander, I'm not planning on going anywhere," he said.  
  
"Okay," Xander whispered. "I think I might need time." He really would need some time to put his thoughts in order, because the way he was shaking and his heart was beating fast--this could get serious. And that was all kinds of scary, because Xander hadn't thought he'd ever feel like that again about anybody, let alone about  _Giles_.   
  
That made Xander look at him, and  _damn_ , Giles looked sexy when he'd just been kissed, especially when Xander reminded himself that he had been the one to do the kissing. "I--I was thinking, I could--maybe, you know, if you want to have me hang around a little more--I could stay in England for a little while longer, after everything's taken care of."  
  
"Of course," Giles replied, pulling back slightly, but still keeping a hand on Xander's shoulder.  
  
Xander had done some thinking when Andrew had been around earlier. What Niki had said and done had led him to think that he probably should stay in England longer than just a few more days, and with Giles practically harassing him about French classes, it'd probably be an even better idea to get that done while he was here. Then Giles had come back, and he had to go all motivational-speech-guy on Xander, and that had made Xander think about things even more seriously.  
  
"You--what you just said," Xander started nervously. "The thing about me being a good Watcher... do you really believe that? No," he said quickly before Giles could say a word. "No, I don't want you to say it just because you don't want to go back on your word or whatever, but seriously, do you  _really_ believe I'm a good Watcher?"  _He_  had a hard time believing it. He kept screwing up: getting to Niki a day late, getting them all almost killed after they'd been in England for less than two hours, not getting Océane's name right, not following the rules, and just--he didn't have a hint of a clue how to even  _be_ a Watcher in the first place.  
  
"Yes," Giles answered firmly, looking Xander straight in the eye. "I really do believe you are a good Watcher, Xander."  
  
"But I don't know half the things the other Watchers do. I can't communicate with almost half the Slayers on campus, I--"  
  
"I'm not going to pretend that you have the education and the training usually required to become a Watcher, but you have experience that few people on the Council can ever begin to understand. You have had the training everyone who works for me  _should_  have."  
  
Xander took a moment to let that sink in. Nope, still not believing it. Yet. "So, okay." He took a deep breath and let it out. "I could--I could stay in England for a few months, maybe take those French classes. The tutor offer is still on the table, right?"  
  
"Yes, of course it is." Giles looked happy about that, and that made Xander smile and feel a little less nervous.  
  
He'd been thinking he could probably use the time off, anyway. Train with the girls a bit more, make sure Niki did settle in okay, and that Océane and Catherine did too; he really liked those two as well. He figured language classes would be a good thing, in the end. It'd make getting to the Slayers easier once he got back to Africa. Océane might stop laughing at him, too, which was another bonus.  
  
Maybe Xander would even start believing Giles someday. Start believing that he  _was_  a Watcher, not just a kid pretending to be one.  
  
But, really, the nicest part about this plan was that Xander was starting to think it might involve a lot more Giles-kissing too. And he had a feeling he would like that. A lot.  
  
"But there are still Slayers out there," Xander said. "And if I'm here for months at a time, who's going to go out looking for them?" There were Watchers-- _other_  Watchers, he guessed he meant--in Africa, but most of them were too old to travel much, or had a Slayer or two they were training for a while, girls like Catherine whose parents hadn't wanted to let them come all the way to England at first, or like Océane, who'd wanted to improve her English enough that she'd at least be able to make herself understood before she came here.   
  
"We'll find someone," Giles said. "There'll be a group finishing their training next month, and if we paired them up, perhaps sent one of the better-trained Slayers with them as well, one of the girls who knows the area...."   
  
Xander thought he'd better interrupt before Giles went into long-range planning mode. "Okay," he said. "That answers that question. But I'm... I'm not ready to say yes, yet. I mean, I'm not saying no, either. I just--remember when I said I needed some time to think?"   
  
Giles blinked for a second, and Xander realized he'd been too late; at least half of Giles' brain had gone off to figuring out how to make things work. "Yes," he said. "Take all the time you need, Xander."  
  
"I just... this is a lot to take in," he said. "I'm not running away, or anything; don't worry." He wondered if that was presuming too much--if Giles hadn't had that same feeling of teetering on the brink of something big and deep and serious. But Giles' smile looked relieved, and Xander thought maybe he had, after all. "But I'm going to go upstairs for the night, and then in the morning I'll take over guard duty. And once this is all over, then we can, um, talk. Again."   
  
He got up, but then thought that maybe it'd be a good idea to make the "not saying no" part of what he said a little more clear for Giles. He bent down again, brushing a quick kiss over Giles' lips, and then turned back toward the door.   
  
Giles grabbed his hand before he could get very far, tugged him closer, and kissed him again. "Good night, Xander," he whispered, pulling back and cupping Xander's cheek. "I do mean it when I say that you can take all the time you need."  
  
Xander smiled and licked his lips. He could really get used to this whole kissing thing. "I know. 'Night."  
  
He made it to the guest room, and collapsed on the bed. So much stuff to think about, and Xander had no idea where to start. He was pretty sure this was going to be a long, sleepless night.  
  
  


***

  
  
Giles had meant it; Xander was welcome to take as much time as he wanted. That didn't mean that he didn't wish that it wouldn't take  _quite_  this much time.   
  
It wasn't really Xander's fault. The evening after they'd had their talk, Willow had arrived; she'd sent the demon back home straight away, but had wanted to do the rest of her work after she'd had a good night's sleep. Giles wasn't quite certain how much sleep she'd actually been able to get, since this was the first time in quite some time that she, Buffy, and Xander had all been in the same place. He'd given them some space, letting them catch up without him getting in the way; he'd had plenty of work to do, anyway, as he thought it was imperative that he be seen to be completely on top of things at the moment.   
  
She'd spent almost the entire next day working on the binding spells, but at dinner that night had been able to assure him that they'd been successful. "If they do magic, we'll know," she said, "and the same thing if they meet up with each other." Then she smiled, looking pleased with herself. "Except for the Garners. It took me a little while, but they can be around each other without raising the alarm." She'd spent the next morning writing up notes on the spells for the Council's records, and then she, Xander, Buffy, and Dawn had disappeared for the rest of the day.   
  
And now it was two days later; things were slowly getting back to normal, but he still only saw Xander at meals, and those were crowded, noisy affairs.   
  
Giles was almost done with the reassignment of the remaining Watchers. It had been relatively easy to fill in the empty posts, since there weren't many of them. Most of the old guard had been retired already, and while there were a number of teachers amongst them as well, several other Watchers had come by his office or phoned him to ask if they could be considered for one of the positions.  
  
After the ordeal, the support of those remaining had been quite welcome. So far, no one had yet to resign on their own, and Giles took that as a sign that things would be back on track; perhaps even easier now that he knew everyone working for him was there because they wanted to be, and not simply out of a sense of duty.  
  
He was signing the last of the paperwork for the day when there was a knock on the door. "Come in."  
  
Andrew poked his head into the doorway. "There's a phone call on line two. It's the hospital, about Mrs. Bishop."  
  
"Thank you, Andrew," Giles said, picking up the phone. "Rupert Giles speaking."  
  
Five minutes later, Giles walked out of his office, locking the door behind him. He looked for Andrew, but the office was empty. Walking down the hallway, Giles heard voices coming from the study and opened the door to find Xander, Dawn, and Andrew sitting on the couch.   
  
Andrew straightened up when he noticed Giles. "What did they say?" he asked.  
  
Xander and Dawn were also looking at him expectantly, and so he decided not to make them wait. He stepped into the room. "Mrs. Bishop is awake. The doctors are expecting her to make a full recovery."  
  
"Oh, thank  _God_ ," Xander sighed, slumping against the back of the couch. "That's good news."  
  
"I quite agree," Giles said, finally letting himself grin.  
  
"She's going to wonder what the hell happened," Dawn mused, putting down the book she had on her lap.  
  
"Yes, she's already begun asking questions." Giles sat down on the sofa with a groan. He'd managed to stay on top of things quite easily, but he was tired. "I was thinking of sending you to London," he said, looking at Dawn, "since you'll be working with her, it'll be a good opportunity for you to meet her and explain the situation."  
  
"Oh, neat!" Dawn said, grinning. "The job's still on?"  
  
"Of course," Giles replied, leaning forward. "I'm not going to go back on my words simply because of the situation. I still believe you'll make a wonderful addition to the Research department."  
  
"And I can start studying soon, too?"  
  
"If you'd like, yes." Her excitement was catching, and Giles found himself laughing when Dawn launched herself at him and gave him a hug.  
  
"Thank you, thank you, thank you."  
  
"Well, if I'd known you wanted to be a Watcher, I'd have offered before Buffy dragged you off to Rome," he admitted. He hadn't realized before how he'd missed having the lot of them around, but this situation had at least been good for something. Now, perhaps, they would visit more often. Giles could hope.  
  
He glanced at Xander over Dawn's shoulder and smiled. "You should thank Xander. He's the one who brought your interest to my attention."  
  
Next thing he knew, Dawn was squeezing Xander instead. "So, I don't have to go back to Rome with Buffy, do I?"  
  
"I'd expect not, but you should discuss it with her first. Perhaps finish the school year."  
  
"I could transfer," she argued, sitting back on the couch.  
  
"That would also be a possibility. But do talk with your sister before deciding anything; she's still your legal guardian," Giles reminded her.  
  
"I'll go do that now." Dawn leapt to her feet, and then grabbed Andrew's arm, dragging him with her without listening to his protests. "Come on, we have to find her now."  
  
Giles watched them leave, shaking his head, and then turned to Xander. "It's wonderful to see her happy, isn't it?"  
  
"Oh yeah, it is," Xander concurred, smiling. Then his expression turned sober. "Tomorrow's Gregory's memorial, right?"  
  
"Yes, everything should be ready. Has Andrew spoken to you about it?"  
  
"Not much. Just to say that he got his speech done. I have a feeling he had another good cry about it, too. God, this sucks."  
  
Giles nodded slowly, sighing. "Loss is never an easy thing to deal with."  
  
"He'll be fine, after a while, I guess," Xander murmured, as if trying to convince himself. "I don't think they were, you know, together, but from what Andrew said, there was something there anyway."  
  
"I gathered as much," Giles said softly. "Although knowing Andrew as we do now, it's easy to jump to the conclusion that it was one-sided."  
  
"And all in his head?" Xander smiled, but shook his head. "I don't think so." He leaned forward and looked at his hands as if they were absolutely fascinating.  
  
Giles wanted to push Xander to talk, but he made himself stay silent, waiting. He'd promised Xander time, and time was what Xander would get, no matter how impatient Giles was starting to feel. He had the urge to reach out, take Xander's hands in his and--  
  
He hadn't felt this way for anyone in a long time, and it was a shame that it taken Xander's accident, this conspiracy, to bring these feelings to the surface. Now that he was aware of them, though, Giles was having a hard time waiting.  
  
"I've been thinking," Xander said hoarsely. "Actually, I talked with Willow." He shook his head, smiling. "She was, uh, surprised would be the word, I guess."  
  
"I suppose she would be, yes," Giles whispered, holding his breath as he waited for Xander to keep going. He understood well now how others felt when it took him forever to get to the crux of the matter.   
  
"Supportive, though, which she would be, being Willow."  
  
Giles smiled, relaxing slightly. "It does sound like her."  
  
"You know, you can stop being tense, you idiot," Xander blurted out, and Giles wasn't sure which of them he was talking to, but then Xander laughed, and he realized it was probably both. "I did tell you I wasn't running away from you," Xander continued fondly. Giles let out a shaky breath. "I just needed time to figure out if I really wanted to go back to school, and stay here for a while. Most of my thinking was about Watcher stuff, not... the other."  
  
"And?"  
  
"The short answer to the school part of the question is 'no.' 'No way in hell,' even," Xander replied, grinning. "The long answer is 'I should,' for a number of reasons that I don't really want to get into right now, unless you want me to list them all in alphabetical order or something." He paused. "And the rest of the answer about the staying here, well, as much as I'll miss Africa, and I really will, I--yes, I'd like to stay here. I even made a list of for and against and everything, and the 'for' column had a very compelling argument."  
  
"Which was?"  
  
Xander shook his head, looking at Giles fondly. "Two months," he said, still smiling. "I'm giving the French tutor two months to get me to say Ocean's name right. And for the rest... what's your opinion on dating? I was thinking we could go out Friday night. There's this movie I want to see, and you're going to hate it, but if you really want to try, well,  _this_ \--" he waved back and forth at the two of them-- "you're going to have to get used to it, so why not start now?"  
  
Giles smiled. "I think that sounds like a good idea."  
  
"Good." Then, grinning, Xander said, "You can pick the restaurant we go to afterwards. Though I'm not so much being fair as just recognizing that you know the area better than I do."   
  
"I'll make reservations," Giles said, "if you tell me what time the movie should let out."   
  
Xander didn't answer him straight away, just looked at him with that same fond expression, until Giles smiled back and reached out for Xander's hand.   
  
  


***

  
  
**Epilogue: Six weeks later**  
  
"Don't look at me," Xander called, grinning. "If you want Catherine and Ocea-- _Océane_ \--to treat you like a grownup, then that means you have to act like one even when it works out better for you to play the 'I'm just a little kid!' card." He noticed Océane beaming at him and nodding when he corrected his pronunciation her name. Well, the French lessons were doing him a little good, at least.   
  
Niki glared at him, folding her arms, but finally she sighed heavily, picking up her wooden practice sword from where she'd flung it to the ground mid-temper tantrum. "Fine!" she muttered, turning back to Catherine. "I am going to beat you this time," she announced. Xander could understand her frustration, even if he wanted her to calm down; she'd been practicing with Catherine all afternoon, and hadn't managed to hang onto her weapon for more than a few minutes at a time. Catherine was older and stronger, not to mention more experienced, but Niki's determination had lasted even when her patience ran out.   
  
"Not if you keep losing your temper," Catherine told her firmly. "Now, take a deep breath, count to ten, and we'll start over again."   
  
"They're coming along well," a voice said from behind Xander. He turned around, looking up to see Rupert smiling down at him. "Catherine's form is excellent."  
  
"That wasn't me," Xander said, "but yeah. I'm proud of her. Of all three of them," he added.   
  
"You should be," Rupert said. "And of yourself as well."   
  
Xander shrugged. "I don't do much," he said. And he didn't, really. He'd started taking groups of the girls out on patrol, and he made a point of keeping an eye on Catherine, Océane, and Niki's training, but he wasn't exactly  _teaching_  them anything.   
  
"More than you'd think," Rupert said. That was a familiar argument; they'd been having it for the past couple of weeks. Someone-- _not_  Rupert, he insisted--had suggested that Xander stay on permanently, in charge of "practical field experience" for the students; Rupert thought it was a good idea, but Xander hadn't made up his mind just yet.   
  
He wanted to stay. He just wasn't sure if it was because he thought it was the best thing for him to do, or because there were too many people here that he didn't want to leave.   
  
Rupert settled down next to him on the grass, his arm slipping around Xander's waist--making Catherine and Océane look at one another and giggle, and Niki crow triumphantly when she took advantage of Catherine's distraction to disarm her--and Xander wondered if it really mattered  _why_  this was the right place for him to be, or if the only important thing was that it definitely  _was._  
  


***

**Author's Note:**

> [me on tumblr](https://mireille719.tumblr.com)


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